Amid industry concerns of a dearth of global spare capacity, the primary focus has centered on Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi’s plans to each add 1mn b/d by 2027. Kuwait is rarely mentioned in the discussions, but is itself planning to add 1mn b/d crude oil capacity by 2035 (MEES, 22 October 2021).
The reason for the lack of attention on Kuwait’s ambitions to bring capacity up from less than 3mn b/d to 4mn b/d by the middle of the next decade is that Kuwait has too often failed to back up its expansion ambitions, and capacity has actually fallen in recent years. Indeed, the 4mn b/d target is a longstanding one for Kuwait: state firm KPC had for years been intending to achieve it by 2020 (MEES, 14 December 2018). (CONTINUED - 954 WORDS)
