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Former Kuwaiti oil minister Saud Nasir Al-Sabbah said Kuwait will not fully disclose its reserves.

Recent gas finds and substantial oil reserves require multi billion dollar investment programs to hit the Gulf state's ambitious targets.

Kuwait is a small but wealthy nation nestled at the northeastern tip of the Persian Gulf. It supports a relatively open economy and is blessed with substantial hydrocarbon resources.

Oil and refined goods account for nearly half of GDP, 95% of export revenues, and 80% of government income. High oil prices in recent years have helped build Kuwait's budget and trade surpluses and foreign reserves.

In May 2007 Kuwait changed its currency peg from the US dollar to a basket of currencies in order to curb inflation and to reduce its vulnerability to external shocks.

Oil and gas reserves

While Kuwait is believed to own an estimated 101.5bn bbl of proven oil reserves, according to the June 2007 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, there is some debate over this alleged 8-9% share of the world total.

The Saudi-Kuwaiti Neutral Zone holds a further 5bn bbl, half of which belong to Kuwait.

A leaked industry document unveiled in January 2006 suggests that reserves have been overstated, with 48bn bbl possibly a more accurate assessment of Kuwaiti resources.

The same source implies that only 24bn bbl of oil are actually proven. It is possible that third-party reserves estimates will therefore be downgraded at some later date, although the Kuwaiti government has so far failed to confirm the official position.

Kuwait will never disclose the size of its oil reserves for reasons of national security, then oil minister Sheikh Ali Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah was quoted as saying in May 2007.

Should the Kuwait government continue to keep foreign investment out of the oil sector, we could see the country struggle to maintain its reserves base and deliver significant capacity expansion.

Former oil minister al-Sabah in May 2007 made an announcement regarding a major oil and/or gas discovery to the official KUNA news agency.

The field is in the Dhabi area near the Iraqi border close to the existing Rawdatin field, and contains light crude oil and associated gas.

However, Sheikh Ali did not provide estimates of total reserves or well test rates nor an estimated date for the start of commercial production.

Oil supply and demand

Kuwaiti supply for May 2008 was around 2.59mn b/d, still below estimated sustainable capacity of 2.66mn b/d, although there should be some additional capacity expansion in 2008 to 2.83mn b/d.

Longer-term plans to boost capacity at northern fields to 900,000b/d with foreign company involvement still face political opposition.

New capacity has been sanctioned for northern fields with the GC-24 project at the Sabriyah field, although this seems unlikely to be realised until 2010.

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