Kuwait to invest $51 billion in energy
Posted: 24 December 2007
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Kuwait is planning to invest nearly $51 billion over the next five years in its energy industry to increase production capacity and stem declining supply from older oilfields, the head of the state oil company has said.
“Kuwait is doing a very aggressive program to enhance production capacity. Production could reach four million bpd by 2020," Kuwait Petroleum Corp CEO Saad Al-Shuwaib was quoted as saying by Bloomberg news agency.
The country, one of the largest exporters in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has been without a permanent oil minister since June. Parliamentary opposition to foreign company access to Kuwaiti oilfields means the country has delayed projects vital to its goal of raising oil output from 2.4 million barrels a day now.
The delays are sapping the growth of Kuwait 's economy while neighboring Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates and Qatar use bumper oil revenues to develop new, non-oil industries. Kuwait 's hydrocarbons industry accounts for more than 75 per cent of its gross domestic product, according to Standard Chartered Bank.
Within the next two to three years, Kuwait Oil Co, a unit of Kuwait Petroleum responsible for all domestic exploration, will develop heavy-oil reserves in the Lower Fars reservoir with Exxon Mobil Corp, Al-Shuwaib said.
“We started this and very sufficient quantities should be produced within five years,” he said.
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