The oil concession rights were awarded to the company on 23 December 1934, and it started drilling operations in 1936.

An international coalition of firefighters battled the fires for months until the last well was finally capped on 6 November 1991.

In 2023, KOC signed contracts worth $1.73 billion expanding the KERP which aims at repairing the soil of oilfields destroyed during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

On October 9th, 2023, Kuwait's oil minister announced the country would prepare the infrastructure for the Durra gas field, in an attempt to boost fossil fuel production.

The strategy aims to raise overall oil production capacity to 4 million barrels per day by 2035.