Mohammed Al-Mutairi
,CEO,KNPC
Under the leadership of Mohammad Al-Mutairi, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) posted a revenue of over $44bn in 2014, an increase of $2.3bn from the year before. A chemical engineer from Kuwait University, Mutairi joined KNPC in 1987 and has gathered about 27 years of experience in downstream and refining, technologies and management.
He has acquired vast experience in senior roles, having worked as deputy managing director of Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, and as manager of Operations at the Shuaiba Refinery – Kuwait’s the oldest refining plant to date, and also as Manager Operations at Mina Al-Ahmadi the largest Refinery in Kuwait with 466 KBPD Capacity.
As CEO of KNPC, Kuwait’s national oil refining company, Mutairi’s responsibilities are huge and encompass the country’s entire downstream industry from refining to gas processing and Local marketing.
Speaking to Oil & Gas Middle East’s sister publication, Refining & Petrochemicals Middle East in February, Mutairi confirmed the news of a new downstream complex in Kuwait.
The complex will be built next to and integrated with the massive Al Zour refinery in the southeast of the country.
The area will also house a 3bn cubic feet per day import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to be used mainly for power generation. The project is in tendering phase and is expected to be completed in 2020.
“Because of location and integration and for best practice, the idea is to have one entity in Al Zour. Financially and economically, it makes sense to have our petrochemical operations integrated with a refinery,” he adds. Meanwhile, KNPC will continue to operate its two refineries — Mina Abdullah and Mina Al Ahmadi, including work on a massive expansion project better known as the Clean Fuels Project.
“The Clean Fuel Project is aimed at upgrading and expanding KNPC’s existing refineries into an integrated merchant refining complex with total capacity of 800,000 bpd meeting the future diversified market requirements,” Mutairi explained.
Kuwait’s refining capacity is currently one of the largest in the GCC, and with Mutairi in charge, it seems to be in the right hands to grow further.
