Background: Public awareness regarding blood donation during life and after death is poor in many developing and developed countries. The prevalence of blood donation varies according to the demographics of the people. The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice, and barriers regarding blood donation among the general population in Kuwait. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 915 people was conducted between March and April 2016. Data were collected by using a survey questionnaire among the general people working in five randomly selected ministries including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Social Affair. An ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine in Kuwait University and from the ministries. Results: Overall, about 37% the study population ever donated blood. The proportion of life-time donors was significantly higher among males than females (57.9% vs. 25.2%, respectively, p< 0.001). However, the knowledge scores about blood donation were significantly higher among females (p= 0.035). Both knowledge scores and positive scores of attitude increased with increasing age and with higher educational levels. Of the barriers, women had significantly more fear of pain (p<0.001) and fear of seeing blood (p= 0.002) compared to men. In multivariate analysis, male gender, middle and older age, knowledge score, fear of getting new infection, and fear of anemia remained significant predictors of blood donation after controlling for the confounders. Conclusion:The study showed a low rate of blood donation in Kuwait. More community outreach programs such as blood donation campaigns should be undertaken to improve the situation, and to alleviate people's perception about the barriers.

Crude oil production in Um-Ghdair field is consider one of the most complex operational activities in Kuwait Oil Company due to high water cut percentage, asphaletene flocculation, high viscosity and tight emulsion phenomena. As the fluid travels through the reservoir, wellbore, flowline, all the way to the gathering center, the state of initial equilibrium is disturbed leading to change in the chemical composition of the crude oil. As pressure and temperature continue to drop, and gas escapes, more asphaltenes and heavy components may continue to flocculate all the way throughout the system until the petroleum reaches its final destination. In this pilot project, asphaltene inhibitor and viscosity reducer agents were selected for reducing oil viscosity and breaking the tight emulsion phenomena in the selected piloting well in Um-Ghdair field. It was noticed that there is an asphaltene compounds flocculate in the interface between oil and water leading to increase crude oil viscosity. The best two among 22 chemical formulations tested through the screening process at lab scale and take it to pilot stage. Additionally, the pilot study examined the influences effective for surfactants such as water composition, temperature, concentration, pH and total dissolved solids. It was noticed that the viscosity reduction and the water separation improve with increasing surfactant concentration and increasing temperature up to 50 °F. Two formulations were selected based on cost effective optimal concentrations of surfactant that identified from the bottle test. The pilot has been implemented successfully in the field, resulting a reduction in non-production time and increase the oil mobility from the reservoir.

Meeting 2040 KPC Strategic plan objectives and KOC production targets will require adoption of new cost-effective technologies and methods in Kuwait fields, resulting in incremental oil production and extended life of the fields. Long-term oil production through artificial lift application can lead to pressure depletion and water cut incremental in mature fields, which can cause obvious wellbore impairments, particularly in medium to week formations such as Wara and Upper Burgan formations. One of the critical parameters that will have great influence on maturing this strategy is sand management-field development. Recently some of high producing wells perforated in Wara sandstone Formation in the Greater Burgan field in Kuwait have been plugged due to sand production issues. Understanding the causes of this critical challenge will definitely help KOC in finding the optimum sand management work flow and select the right sand control technologies to maximize the oil production in Wara formation. Several sand characterization tests were conducted on core plugs and produced samples collected downhole, ESP wellbore data was linked with well logs analysis and production data for understanding the sand production phenomena within the intervals and help establish a sand collapse model. Based on the lab work, modeling and ESP real time data, a screening benchmark was developed for sand management and control for Wara formation. The unique customized screening criteria will support South East Kuwait (SEK) field development to identify/avoid the potential sanding intervals and sustain oil production at safe drawdown pressure, which definitely will prevent ESP failures and extend the ESP lifetime. The risk assessment for potential sanding intervals has been established to predict sand production in most new Wara wells. Some Wara wells targeting shallower or weaker sands would normally be sand control candidates, by taking into account the completion design, optimizing surface sand management workflow, managing safe drawdown and BHFP levels, and taking advantage of favorable stress vectors through oriented perforation can encompass the sand free well operating envelopes over life of well production and depletion conditions.