Oil sector ‘renews’ contract of 300 expats engineers

This news has been read 41953 times!

Jobs with technical, rare skills not available in local market

KUWAIT CITY, March 9: The contracts of about 300 expatriate engineers in the oil sector were renewed recently, most of them are working in Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), reports Al-Anba daily quoting reliable sources from the oil sector.

Sources disclosed the reasons that KNPC and its subsidiaries gave to the regulatory and legislative authorities for the renewal of these expatriates’ contracts are that their jobs require technical and rare skills, and that professionals with their level of expertise is not available in the local market; while they are also needed for the transfer of their expertise by training Kuwaiti workers in the oil sector.

According to data obtained by the daily, the number of expatriate engineers whose contracts were renewed are as follows: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) – 22 engineers with a combined technical experience ranging from 25 to 38 years, most of them from India (16 engineers), and the rest are from Egypt, Canada and Indonesia.

Experience
KNPC – 241 engineers with a total level of experience and technical expertise of up to 35 years in the fields of project coordination, precision machinery maintenance, general maintenance, manufacturing, services and operations.

Most of these professionals are from India. Petrochemical Industry Company (PIC) – 20 engineers with practical experience of up to 36 years in chemical, electrical and civil engineering specializations. Majority of them are from India (15 engineers) and the rest are from Egypt and Jordan. Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) – only one manufacturing performance engineer with 35 years experience in chemical engineering and he is an Indian.

Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) – seven engineers (main office and joint operations) with experience ranging from 16 to 35 years in reservoir engineering, planning, petroleum, geophysical and geological operations. Four of them are from India and the rest Sudan, Australia and Egypt. Kuwaiti Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) – nine engineers with more than 28 years of experience. In addition, sources said the oil sector cannot ignore the expertise and skills required by these jobs as they are necessary for the operating procedures in modern oil installations such as production and refining projects.

This vital sector constitutes 90 percent of the country’s revenues; hence, it is necessary to seek the help of those with such expertise and competence regardless of their nationalities and despite the calls for Kuwaitization in this field – replacing expats with Kuwaitis or restricting jobs to citizens only.

This news has been read 41953 times!