UPDATE ON CRITICAL ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000150 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR PM, S/CT, NEA/ARP, EB/ESC; ENERGY FOR KOLEVAR; NSC FOR HINNEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2017 TAGS: ENRG PTER EPET KU OIL SECTOR SUBJECT: UPDATE ON CRITICAL ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION REF: A. KUWAIT 4581 ¶B. KUWAIT 4562 ¶C. LENDERKING - CONLON - KOLEVAR - ALVAREZ EMAILS Classified By: Econ Counselor Tim Lenderking for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d ). ¶1. (C/NF) On 10 January, Acting Chairman of Kuwait's Oil Sector Services Company (OSSCo) Ali Al-Obaid contacted Econoff to request assistance in arranging a visit to U.S. energy facilities to observe security programs, systems, and practices. Al-Obaid said that Kevin Kolevar, Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Assurance, had visited the U.S. offices of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) in December to propose such a visit. As OSSCo Acting Chairman, Al-Obaid is effectively the security manager for all of KPC's infrastructure and the best candidate for the proposed visit. Specifically, Al-Obaid would like to tour a refinery and a petrochemical plant. He also expressed interest in Kolevar's suggestions to visit Strategic Petroleum Reserve facilities and to meet with energy company executives. Al-Obaid expressed interest in scheduling the visit for the second or third week in March. Due to schedule constraints, he would prefer to limit the visit to 2-3 days in Houston only. ¶2. (C/NF) Al-Obaid is also eager to receive Alex de Alvarez, DOE Deputy Director for Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration in Kuwait. Alvarez has been assigned TDY to Dhahran to work with the KSA on energy infrastructure security and has proposed a visit to Kuwait in mid-March. Post will coordinate with DOE to deconflict the two visits. Al-Obaid has expressed a preference to visit Houston before receiving Alvarez in Kuwait, but the two visits can be scheduled in the opposite order if necessary. ¶3. (C/NF) Separately, at the invitation of Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC),a CENTCOM security assessment team, which is visiting Kuwait for a force protection survey, will also consult with KNPC to identify security vulnerabilities in the vicinity of the Shuaiba-Ahmadi industrial area adjacent to the Shuaiba Naval Base. This zone includes all of Kuwait's refineries and major petroleum export terminals. The assessment will take place from 1-4 February. Post will report on the results of the assessment septel. ******************************************** For more Embassy Kuwait reporting, see: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Or Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ******************************************** TUELLER