Life at Kuwait’s giant refinery, Calcutta duo of petroleum project disturbed by attacks
Telegraph | 10 April 2026
Two Calcuttans who worked on a project to build petroleum storage tanks in Kuwait nearly two decades ago recalled being overawed by the scale of the country’s oil infrastructure and expressed shock at reports that they were damaged in recent Iranian drone strikes.
The two — an engineer and a finance expert — were part of a team from a Calcutta-based construction company that built three petroleum storage tanks in Kuwait between 2008 and mid-2011. Two of these tanks were located at the Mina Al Ahmadi refinery, which was reportedly targeted by Iranian drones.
“I was overawed by the size and scale of the Al Ahmadi refinery. I used to wonder how such a massive facility was built in the middle of the desert,” said the engineer from Salt Lake.
Before visiting Kuwait, he had worked at several refineries across India. “But those were no comparison to the facilities in Kuwait,” he said.
He visited the sites in Kuwait five times between 2008 and 2011 and returned again in 2017.
“There were several roads within the Mina Al Ahmadi refinery, with facilities on both sides. People from many countries worked there — engineers, technical experts and field staff from Europe, the US, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and elsewhere,” he said.
“I felt extremely disturbed to hear about the drone attacks on the refinery. I am still emotionally attached to the project,” he said.
According to reports, the refinery faced a fresh drone attack last week that sparked fires in multiple operational units.
Operated by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, the Mina Al Ahmadi refinery is among the largest in the Gulf, with a capacity of 3,46,000 barrels per day. It is crucial to the distribution of petroleum products through the local market and exports hundreds of thousands of barrels of refined fuels, including diesel, to Asia and Europe.
“We built three storage tanks used to store refined petroleum products before shipping, including petrol and gasoline,” the engineer said.
“There was a US military base nearby. It was cordoned off. I was told it housed army, navy and air force bases, and personnel were not supposed to step out,” he said.
Both men described life in Kuwait as peaceful and prosperous during their stay.
“Everything was expensive, and we had to manage within a daily allowance, which meant we couldn’t dine at fancy places,” the engineer said. “We went in groups to KFC outlets.”
He added that a nearby Bangladeshi restaurant was their regular dinner spot because it was more affordable. “But staying there was fun,” he said.
The finance professional visited the facility three times. “I would go there to resolve contractual disputes,” he said.
They would travel from Calcutta to Kuwait City via Dubai. “Dubai airport was massive. Kuwait’s airport was not as large as Dubai’s but was still much bigger and better equipped than Calcutta’s,” the finance professional said.