L&T wins EPC contract from Kuwait Oil Company to build six crude oil storage tanks and upgrade export infrastructure

Larsen & Toubro’s Energy Hydrocarbon Onshore division just landed a major EPC contract from Kuwait Oil Company. The job: engineer, procure, and construct six crude oil storage tanks—each with an operating capacity of 618,000 bbl—plus new pipelines and broad upgrades to Kuwait’s existing crude loading and export network. The whole thing runs on a lump sum turnkey basis.

The scope targets Kuwait’s Jurassic light oil export infrastructure. That’s a deliberate move to expand the country’s crude handling capabilities as production keeps growing.

L&T secures major EPC order from Kuwait Oil Company

This contract puts L&T Energy Hydrocarbon Onshore at the center of one of Kuwait’s most significant near-term energy infrastructure projects. The division takes on full engineering, procurement, and construction responsibilities—well beyond just building tanks.

When crude moves through the system faster and more reliably, delays get cut, and Kuwait gains more flexibility in managing export schedules and volumes.

The six new crude oil storage tanks are the headline deliverable. Each holds 618,000 barrels at operating capacity, adding up to roughly 3.7 million barrels of new storage across all six units combined. Also covered: associated facilities, new pipeline installation, and comprehensive upgrades to Kuwait’s existing crude loading and export network.

Delivering all of that on a lump sum turnkey basis means L&T owns the full project—cost, schedule, and completion. That’s a serious commitment, and it says a great deal about the trust Kuwait Oil Company is placing in the division.

Why Kuwait is investing in crude storage and export capacity

The project is explicitly tied to Kuwait’s Jurassic light oil export infrastructure—and that framing matters. This isn’t routine maintenance or a minor expansion. It’s a targeted investment designed to support increased crude volumes flowing from Jurassic reservoirs.

Kuwait has been working to modernize and scale up its energy sector for years. As production grows, the infrastructure that moves crude from wellhead to export terminal has to keep pace. Without enough storage and loading capacity, higher production simply has nowhere to go. These upgrades address exactly that bottleneck.

By expanding storage and improving the crude handling network, Kuwait positions itself to move more oil more efficiently—without being constrained by export infrastructure built for earlier production levels. The broader signal is clear: Kuwait isn’t just maintaining what it already has. It’s building toward higher throughput and a more capable export system for the years ahead.

Implications for Kuwait’s crude export network

The practical impact goes well beyond the tank farm itself. New pipelines and comprehensive upgrades to existing loading facilities will expand throughput capacity across Kuwait’s entire crude export infrastructure, with better operational efficiency at loading terminals as a direct benefit.

When crude moves through the system faster and more reliably, delays get cut, and Kuwait gains more flexibility in managing export schedules and volumes. The project also specifically supports Kuwait’s ability to handle and ship larger volumes of light crude—Jurassic light oil attracts attention in global markets because lighter crudes are generally easier to refine and tend to draw stronger demand from refiners in Asia and Europe.

Expanding the capacity to export that grade could meaningfully strengthen Kuwait’s position as a supplier. More storage, better loading infrastructure, higher throughput—it all adds up to a more competitive export operation. That’s the kind of infrastructure investment that shapes a country’s role in global oil trade for decades.

L&T’s track record in hydrocarbon EPC projects

L&T Energy Hydrocarbon Onshore isn’t new to projects at this scale or complexity. The division has built a track record across the full hydrocarbon value chain—upstream, midstream, and downstream—delivering work in global markets on a lump sum turnkey basis.

Its portfolio spans refinery expansions, petrochemical complexes, gas processing plants, LNG terminals, fertilizer plants, and cross-country pipelines. That range reflects a genuine ability to handle technically demanding work across different sectors and geographies, not just a single niche.

S. V. Desai, Senior Vice President and Head of L&T Energy Hydrocarbon Onshore, spoke directly to the Kuwait award: “We are pleased to be entrusted with this major strategic project by Kuwait Oil Co. The development of the Jurassic light oil export infrastructure is an important investment in Kuwait’s energy sector, and we are committed to supporting the country’s energy ambitions through reliable and world-class project execution.”

That language—reliable, world-class—reflects what the oil and gas sector expects from EPC contractors on projects of this kind. The contract, according to L&T, underscores continued confidence in the division’s ability to execute complex hydrocarbon projects while maintaining high standards of safety, quality, and operational performance.

Full delivery responsibility is squarely on L&T

Here’s what this contract comes down to: L&T Energy Hydrocarbon Onshore won a major EPC award from Kuwait Oil Company covering the construction of six crude oil storage tanks—each with 618,000 bbl operating capacity—alongside new pipelines and upgrades to Kuwait’s crude loading and export network. The lump sum turnkey structure puts full delivery responsibility squarely on L&T.

The project forms part of Kuwait’s Jurassic light oil export infrastructure development, a targeted effort to expand storage and export capacity in line with growing production. For L&T, it adds another large-scale international project to a portfolio that already spans refineries, LNG terminals, and cross-country pipelines across global markets.

Kelly Lippke

Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.