Kuwait expansion plans in doubt; measures being taken

Kuwait announces plans to raise oil production capacity from around 2.9m barrels/day to 4m b/d by 2020

Addressing an energy conference in Kuwait in mid-October, the oil minister Ali al-Omair said that specific measures were being taken to enable output to go up, including more rigs and drilling 2,000 wells; building four gathering centres and two booster stations; and developing heavy oil. The Kuwaiti authorities have long planned to exploit the country’s heavy oil reserves – drawing on the services of experience and expertise of international oil companies. As far back as 1998, IOCs were invited to bid for contracts relating to ‘Project Kuwait’, which envisaged the expansion of output from northern and western oil fields by 0.9m b/d. The idea was that international firms would sign operating