Established in October 1960 as a share-holding company owned by the Kuwait government and private sector, KNPC became fully government-owned in 1975. Since 1968 the company had been exporting petroleum products from its Shuaiba Refinery. In 1980, following the restructuring of the oil sector in Kuwait, KNPC was placed under the newly created Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, which was also government owned. Under this position, KNPC took control of distributing petroleum products within Kuwait, along with the ownership of the Mina Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries.
Refineries
Mina Abdullah refinery: Built in 1958 by the American Independent Oil Company, Mina Abdullah was passed to the Kuwaiti state in 1975 and transferred to KNPC in 1978. Spanning 7,835,000 m², and located 46 km south of Kuwait City, Mina Abdullah is capable of refining .
Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery: Initially built in 1949, the refinery was handed over to KNPC in 1980. Spanning 10,534,000 m², it is located 45 km south of Kuwait City with a production capacity of.
Shuaiba Refinery: Built in 1966, Shuaiba Refinery was the first refinery in the region to be built by a national company. The refinery spanned 1,332,000 m² and was located 50 km south of Kuwait City within the Shuaiba Industrial Area. The refinery had a capacity of. In March 2017 the refinery was shut down in order that its facilities could be repurposed for the country's Clean Fuels Project.
Al Zour Refinery: KNPC released plans to build a fourth refinery known as Al-Zour in July 2007. The refinery is expected to have a capacity of, making it the largest refinery in the middle east. In May 2008, Kuwait National Petroleum Company awarded the four remaining EPC contracts: Process Package 1 was awarded to the Consortium of JGC Corporation and GS Engineering & Construction, Process Package 2 was awarded to SK Engineering & Construction, Storage Tanks Package was awarded to Daelim Industrial Company, Marine Works Package was awarded to Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and The Offsites & Utilities package was awarded to Fluor Corporation.
The Contracts have now been revoked and the project being out on hold for lack of transparency in the awarding of the contracts to the companies mentioned above.
