Kuwait has plans to spend US$115bn on oil projects over the next five years, despite the slump in oil prices, a senior executive has announced
Wafa al-Zaabi, head of planning at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), said at an oil conference, “Over US$100bn will be spent on the local market and the rest abroad, two thirds of which has been allocated for exploration and production."
According to media reports, Kuwait also aims to raise its production capacity, currently just over three million bpd, to four million bpd by 2020.
Among main projects, it plans to build four gathering centres, carry out a key project to boost heavy oil production and raise output of free natural gas to over 56.6mn cu/m daily, from 42.4mn cu/m currently, Zaabi said.
Besides the upstream projects, Kuwait is currently implementing three downstream ventures costing over US$30bn.
These include a new 615,000 bpd refinery and a clean fuel project to upgrade two of the three existing refineries, and a platform for LNG imports.
Like other Gulf oil-exporting nations, Kuwait’s revenues have sharply dropped in the past 20 months due to a slump in oil prices. But the government has insisted it will continue capital investment as planned.
