The Iraqi invasion was by far the most severe trial Kuwait and the Kuwaiti oil sector has to endure.

However, even the darkest phases have silver lining and those trying times revealed the strong Kuwaiti determination and the ability of the corporation to manage its operations from a distance.
Although 14 years have passed since that catastrophic event, the memory of the joint efforts in the corporation, as well as the strong close-knit harmony among employees remain fresh in our minds.
Throughout, a deep sense of patriotism permeated which was reflected in the collective and one-team work.
To manage the invasion crisis, KPC took three major steps: the first was to gather the leaders of the corporation; the second was to set up a plan for the management of the operations from the temporary headquarters in London; and the third was to draw a plan of the 'Return' programme.
Further the Ministry of Oil worked on different fronts to regain control of the situation and successfully manage the operations until the liberation of Kuwait.
Management of operations from London: Immediately after the news of invasion broke out, the management of KPC operations shifted to the headquarters of Kuwait Petroleum International company in London; at the out-set, the operation management was headed by the managing director International Marketing, Shaikh Ali Jaber Al Ali who was in London at that time.
Shaikh Ali instructed Nader Sultan, former KPC deputy chairman and chief executive officer who presided over KPI at the time, to contact the board members of the corporation and its too officials he could manage to find.
Sultan was able to contact Abdul Razzak Mulla Hussein, KPC's former chief executive officer, and Hani Hussein the current chief executive officer.
The office received many calls from several officials and employees. Then a social plan was drawn to ensure housing and cover the expenses of the Kuwaiti employees and the working staff there.
Additionally, a schedule was set up for the allocation of new responsibilities, and the corporation adopted a systematic approach and a plan to manage operations and define priorities.
The most pressing priorities were to restore the Kuwaiti tanker fleet, to protect the record of tankers, fleet, to protect the record of tankers, maintain a record of the corporation's employees stranded abroad in case of emergencies, and keep track of the corporation's deposits outside Kuwait.
During the initial stages of the occupation, the corporation faced some difficulties to monitor the fleet of tankers belonging to the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company and the tankers chartered from world markets. In order to fulfill the terms of the corporation's agreements, a team was created to monitor the marine operations all over the world. After the tankers had delivered their cargo, it became necessary to charter the corporation's fleet out to the world oil markets. And in order to observe the terms of all charter parties, the corporation purchased quantities of Saudi crude to fulfill all its contractual obligations made prior the invasion.
That period was not free of impediments as an unfortunate incident occurred during the tracking of Kuwaiti oil tankers. A tanker escaped carrying one million barrels of Kuwaiti crude oil, and did not pay heed to demands to return its cargo.
During the process of tracking the tankers it was located at the port of Abu Dhabi however it managed to escape capture leaving no traces behind.
Then information leaked that someone was trying to sell one million barrels of Kuwaiti crude, and it became apparent to KPC officials that this was the stolen quantity.
They immediately started to take the necessary judicial procedures to restore the cargo. As a result of this incident, the board of directors of the corporation set up a table of authorities and granted the official authorisation to all its employees abroad in order to collect the amounts of money due by the customers to the Corporation, and cancelled the authorisations given to the employees who stayed in Kuwait.
The headquarters of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company was shifted to London and later to Dubai. The top priority was also given to the follow-up of the employees' affairs in Kuwait, the need to provide for them and their families, the distribution of salaries to cover their living expenses.
Afterwards, the problem of business emerged since KPC has sold oil quantities to its clients around the world and it needed to settle all the invoices and collect the amounts due.
Owing to the embargo imposed by the UN on Iraq, all the Kuwaiti balances were blocked to protect them from being seized by the Iraqis, and the release of the Kuwaiti funds took a considerable time.
However, within a few short weeks, the team of the Kufpec office, composed of 10 people, was able to set up a contingency plan that enabled the Company to protect its rights and honour its obligations.
Suppressing Iraqi Attempts in Opec: At the same time, the Ministry of Oil, represented by Seham Raqouqi, Kuwait's former governor at Opec and who used to be the Assistant Undersecretary for Economic Affairs at the Ministry - played a crucial role in curbing Iraq attempts to cancel the membership of Kuwait in the organisation.
She also contributed to the reinforcement of Kuwait's presence and participation in the various affairs of the organisation, in co-ordination with the under-secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum at that time, Sulaiman Al Omani, and the operations management office in London.
Raqouqi also contacted the officers of the Arabian Oil Company and emphasised that they should refuse any calls or instructions from the Iraqi regime. Furthermore, Seham Raqouqi discussed with the company the possibility of using Kuwait's share in the offshore area to meet the needs of Kuwaiti refiners abroad. However, this share was not used because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supplied the corporation with the crude it
needed.
The Return to Homeland: After having joined all efforts and successfully controlled its affairs and managed its operations, the corporation's management started to draw a plan for the return to the country.
Besides, the board of directors held negotiations with the world's five major companies specialised in oil well fire fighting, as a precaution to curb any attempt by the Iraqi regime to set the oil wells on fire, especially because the Iraqi tyrant had committed a similar brutality during the war between Iran and Iraq.
A tentative return plan was drawn and it took into consideration all the possibilities and best solutions for the worst scenarios. Once the war of liberation of Kuwait broke out, the corporation started to draw its final plans for the reconstruction of the oil sector and the return home.