Kuwait’s Oil Output Capacity Rises To 3.3m Bpd – KPC

Kuwait has increased its oil production capacity to 3.3 million barrels of oil a day (bpd) and is hoping to reach 3.5 million bpd in 2015, the head of its state oil company said on Monday.

Kuwaiti officials have previously said that capacity in the OPEC member state was around 3.1-3.2 million bpd.

“Kuwait has increased its production capacity to 3.3 million barrels per day. It will reach 3.5 million barrels per day by 2015,” Kuwait Petroleum Corporation chief executive Nizar al-Adsani told an oil conference.

Kuwait hopes to reach four million bpd of capacity in 2020, despite slow progress in developing new projects. But Adsani said the Gulf Arab state needed more help from abroad to achieve that target.

“There is an urgent need to seek the assistance of foreign companies given the technologies and expertise that will contribute to the rationalisation of the use of the natural reserves we have,” he said.

He later told reporters that Kuwait was evaluating bids for the first phase of a project to extract heavy oil in the north of the country.

Kuwait hopes to choose a winning bid this month for the Heavy Oil Phase One project, which is worth around $1.1 billion-$1.2 billion, he said, adding that this would be from a consortium.

Officials will also start a tender for a planned new oil refinery next month, he said. The Al Zour refinery, a major part of Kuwait’s economic development plan to upgrade its infrastructure, is expected to cost around 4 billion dinars ($14.18 billion).