Kuwait Targets Heavy Oil Reserves With Eye On Future

9 Dec 2016 Issue: 59 / 49

Kuwait is investing in its heavy oil reserves despite the relatively expensive cost per barrel. With cutting edge techniques required to unlock their potential, Kuwait sees now as the right time to invest in the future.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) needs to find an extra 1mn b/d of domestic oil production in the next three years if it is to meet its 2020 target of 4mn b/d capacity, a level it aims to maintain until at least 2030.

As part of this, KPC subsidiary Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) which oversees Kuwait’s upstream activity outside of the Partitioned Neutral Zone (PNZ) shared with Saudi Arabia, has its own targets. For its 2030 strategy it envisions capacity reaching 3.65mn b/d by 2020, rising to 4mn b/d by 2030. The remaining 350,000 b/d for KPC’s 2020 target is slated to come from the currently shut in PNZ. Kuwait production in November was a near-record 2.88mn b/d, all of which was produced by KOC. The company claims capacity has risen to just over 3mn b/d and is targeting 3.15mn b/d by March 2017 – it previously aimed to hit this mark at the start of 2015. (CONTINUED - 1754 WORDS)