Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) increased conventional production in its North Kuwait area to 600,000 b/d last year according to local daily al-Qabas. The development marks a welcome sign of upstream progress for KOC, given that North Kuwait capacity had dwindled to just 563,000 b/d for 2020-21 (MEES, 29 October 2021). However, this remains well below the peak capacity figure of 763,000 b/d in 2018.
Al-Qabas says that KOC aims to bring North Kuwait production up to 700,000 b/d by 2024 and 800,000 b/d by 2026. Once achieved this would then account for “25% of the firm’s total production [capacity].” As this implies 3.2mn b/d, this broadly tallies with KOC’s plans to increase overall capacity from 2.63mn b/d in 2021 to 3.2mn b/d 2025 – albeit a year behind schedule. (CONTINUED - 125 WORDS)