Sphera > Case Studies > Oil & Gas Industry Excellence Award Winner - Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC)

Oil & Gas Industry Excellence Award Winner - Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC)

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Middle East

Country

Kuwait

Product

Essential Suite from Sphera

Tech Stack

Web-based platform
Data Interoperability

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Cost Savings
Environmental Impact Reduction

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Applicable Industries

Oil & Gas

Applicable Functions

Process Manufacturing
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Process Control & Optimization
Predictive Maintenance
Regulatory Compliance Monitoring

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is a global leader in oil refining, gas liquification and supplying petroleum products to local and international markets. Established in 1960, it is Kuwait’s largest downstream oil and gas service provider – operating three major refineries with 6,000 employees producing an average total of 900,000 barrels per day of distilled gasoline, diesel, and bitumen products. KNPC is widely recognized as a champion of industry best practices within the powerful alliance of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The company has a public policy statement that expresses its desire to be considered as the leaders in safety, health and environmental performance in the petroleum industry.

The Challenge

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is a global leader in oil refining, gas liquification and supplying petroleum products to local and international markets. It operates three major refineries with 6,000 employees producing an average total of 900,000 barrels per day of distilled gasoline, diesel, and bitumen products. The company has a goal to be considered as the leaders in safety, health and environmental performance in the petroleum industry. To achieve this, KNPC has taken a proactive approach to environmental, health and safety (EHS) compliance and sustainability, focusing especially on the critical role of information management. In 2003, KNPC was one of the first companies in the Middle East to implement a centralized, enterprise-level software platform for air emissions tracking and reporting. However, the company faced challenges in promoting efficiency in current EHS information management work processes and leveraging EHS data for strategic decisions.

The Solution

KNPC decided to expand its implementation of Essential Suite by collaborating again with Sphera and Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES), a top consulting firm in the region that had helped KNPC in 2003. In this new project, Sphera is delivering software and implementation services while IES provides project management, onsite maintenance and training. The EHS team at KNPC is escalating its use of Essential Suite in order to meet company goals that reach beyond regulatory compliance – including certification with International Standards Organization (ISO) ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and OHSAS 18000 as well as tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive operational improvements. As part of the two-year project, KNPC is building out its centralized, integrated platform to include additional modules for industrial hygiene, water, waste and chemical inventory as well as enabling process data interoperability and metrics tracking.

Operational Impact

24/7 access via the web provides over 3,500 authorized workers with the information they need anywhere, anytime. Mid-level and senior KNPC managers can view dashboards with tailored KPI charts showing up-to-date results based on actual process data and recent exposure sessions.
Advanced data collection capabilities from up to 1,700 process tags and improving reports of tank losses from annual estimations to true monthly accounting. Other aspects of the project will include up-channel reporting capabilities for spills and waste tracking.
Setting the stage for potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions tracking with improved emission calculations for Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and tank emissions. IES worked with KNPC to re-validate its air emission calculation models and expand their use. Regular lab analysis results of fuel composition allowed accurate carbon content calculations using time dependent valuations (TDVs).
Continuous access to additional GHG data from multiple interoperable systems including KNPC’s Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) program and several proprietary in-house management programs, configuring more than 6,370 TDVs for accurate carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane reporting.
The quick elimination of a 6-year backlog of industrial hygiene and job hazard analysis information that was awaiting data entry. New data on exposure assessments and job hazard analyses, along with incident reports, is now efficiently captured and reported.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced the average time required to generate a monthly air emission inventory report from 8 hours to 2-3 minutes
Set stage for potential GHG tracking with, for example, carbon dioxide and methane emissions reporting based on 6370+ TDVs
Streamlined systems by eliminating 6 servers and additional redundant systems
Eliminated data entry backlog by quickly importing 6 years of varied EHS data