KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has awarded $4.2 billion to develop heavy oilfields in the north of the country, the central tenders committee announced. The project, called Lower Fars Heavy oil Development phase 1, was awarded to UAE-based Petrofac International and the Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Co (CCC), the largest construction firm in the Middle East, the committee said.
The project includes plans to produce 60,000 barrels per day of heavy crude by 2018 and to build the infrastructure facilities for further phases. In the second phase, production will double by 2020.
Kuwait also has plans to raise heavy oil production to around 270,000 bpd by 2030 only if needed.
The Opec member, currently pumping around 2.8 million bpd, plans to raise its output capacity to 4.0 million bpd in 2020 from around 3.3 million bpd now.
Last year, the emirate awarded contracts worth $12 billion to upgrade two of its three oil refineries and procedures are underway to award contracts worth $15 billion to build a new 615,000-bpd refinery.
