Kuwait Petroleum plans projects worth Dh276b

Kuwait: Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), the Gulf Arab state's top state oil company, plans investments and projects worth 20 billion dinars (Dh276.48 billion) in the next five years, an official said in remarks published on Sunday.

The investment figure is higher than an earlier estimate given by Kuwait's Oil Minister Mohammad Al Olaim, who said in June the Opec producer would spend $55 billion on oil projects over the next five years.

The amount included 5 billion dinars designated for a planned upgrade of Kuwait's Mina Abdullah and Mina Al Ahmadi refineries, Ali Al Hajeri, head of administrative and financial affairs at KPC, told Al Rai newspaper.

State refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC), a unit of KPC, said in July it planned a tender to boost capacity of the two refineries to 800,000 barrels per day from 600,000 bpd which might be worth as much as 4 billion dinars. No detailed cost estimate for the project has been given yet.

Budget

The projected KPC budget through to 2013 also includes 4 billion dinars to build the 615,000 bpd Al Zour refinery, Hajeri said.

KPC also planned several other projects to boost productivity and performance of the oil sector, he added.

Kuwait, the world's seventh-largest oil exporter, sits on 10 per cent of proven global reserves.