KUWAIT: The oil sector is expected to spend about KD 34.5 billion over the next five years for the implementation of large development projects, the representative of the acting oil minister, Wafa Al-Zaabi, said yesterday. About KD 30 billion will be spent in Kuwait in the exploration and production sector, which is about 63 percent, while 37 percent will be spent in the refining and petrochemical sector, she said during the opening of a forum on the future of the oil industry.
The state’s strategy aims to raise production capacity of crude oil locally to four million barrels per day in 2020 and maintain it until 2030, and raise the rate of free gas production to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day, as well as raise refining and manufacturing to 1.4 million barrels per day, she said.
Meanwhile, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) is in final stages of talks with international institutions for $6.4 billion in the second tranche of loans to finance its multibillion dollar Clean Fuels Project, state news agency KUNA reported yesterday. The first portion, signed on April 28, was worth KD 1.2 billion ($3.97 billion) with Kuwaiti lenders led by National Bank of Kuwait and Kuwait Finance House.
The state-owned KNPC refiner is in the process of final legal reviews for the foreign loans and will determine the pricing and interest rates, KUNA quoted the company’s financial advisor Khalid Al-Ajeel as saying. International lenders for the second tranche will include credit agencies from Europe, South Korea and Japan, Ajeel said. Part of the country’s KD 30-billion economic development plan, the Clean Fuels Project will upgrade and expand two of the state’s largest existing refineries with a focus on producing higher-value products such as diesel and kerosene for export.
