Removal of oil lakes has countless benefits: Lambert
KUWAIT CITY: The Editor-in-Chief of World Oil magazine Perry Fischer Tuesday praised the partnership between Lewis Lambert Company and Metal and Recycling Company (MRC) for the removal of oil lakes calling it "an important environmental step for Kuwait especially with the destructive effects of the Iraqi invasion." He announced the magazine's December issue will thoroughly focus on this partnership and its achievements and technologies used and efforts made by Kuwait Oil Company in minimizing damage to the environment resulting from oil production. Speaking at a reception held at the Sheraton by Lewis and Lambert, the Editor-in-Chief of the 70-year-old magazine said "Kuwait is at the crossroads with regards to environment with the increase in oil production".
He pointed out there is an ongoing air pollution and explained the air pollution and formation of oil pits are not just results of the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, but also general oil exploitation practices. 'The US produces 10 barrels of water and one barrel of oil. Thus far, Kuwait produces a quarter of a barrel of water with every barrel of oil, which is a remarkable accomplishment. However, this amount of water will increase and its expected that by 2020, water will be produced in larger quantities than oil. Thus it is important that a preceding plan of how to usefully use this water is necessary either for irrigation or elsewhere," Fisher said.
Tendency
Praising Kuwait's tendency to rely on natural gas rather than heavy oil, he clarified that such a step is more environmental-friendly due to the large amount of harmful sulfur present in the heavy oil. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of MRC Khaled Al Mutawa said the company, in partnership with Lewis and Lambert, has successfully completed its trial phase for the removal of oil lakes through the method of separating oil from water, sand and other impurities present in oil lakes. He explained the MRC will rely on its partner in executing the trial of KD 5 million contract with the KOC. Al-Mutawa added the deal was discussed eight months ago and specialized equipment was bought for this project. "Successful results from this trial will allow the MRC to continue removing oil lakes from different fields around Kuwait," he said. Al-Mutawa, did not give more information on the partnership with Lewis and Lambert. However, he asserted the MRC has carried out all necessary analysis with Lewis and Lambert without signing a final contract with the KOC "because our main goal is to support the Kuwaiti environment and adhere to the international contracts that have been signed with the United Nations".
Broaden
He highlighted the MRC is aiming to broaden and diversify its activities to include real estate, industry, contracting and petroleum services. Furthermore, if the results were taken into consideration, the removal of oil lakes will be the second contract for MRC in the oil sector within this year as it has recently announced the acquisition of Metalex which has already won a deal worth 9 million dollars for constructing 270 km of petroleum pipelines. Howey Lambert Chairman of Lewis and Lambert described this project as "a win for all deal". He explained that the removal of oil lakes has countless environmental benefits such as reclaiming vast areas of land and reusing them.
By Dahlia Kholaif
© Arab Times 2007
