Kuwait says reached 3 million oil output capacity

OIL TOIL: Kuwait is planning to build a refinery in China with Sinopec Corp in a joint venture. (Getty Images)

OPEC member Kuwait has boosted crude oil production capacity to three million barrels per day (bpd) and is on track to reach its goal of four million bpd by 2020, the head of its top state oil company said on Monday.

"We are still targeting the four million, we reached the three million already," Saad Al Shuwaib, head of Kuwait Petroleum Corp, told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference.

"We have the capability now to reach the three million," he said when asked again about production capacity. He did not elaborate.

The new crude capacity figure was up 200,000 bpd from Kuwait's maximum of 2.8 million bpd last year.

Kuwait was pumping at its OPEC quota, Shuwaib said. The country's OPEC supply target is 2.22 million bpd.

Kuwait was still planning to build a refinery in China with Sinopec Corp in a joint venture and would comply with all environmental requirements as requested by Chinese authorities.

A key environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on the refinery, to be built in Guangdong province, is due by the month's end.

KPC is still in talks with US Exxon Mobil Corp over a technical service agreement to help produce heavy oil in Kuwait after signing an initial agreement in 2007. "We are still talking. We have not signed anything yet," Al Shuwaib added.

Kuwait is also still considering whether to build a refinery and petrochemical plant in India with joint venture partners, he said, but declined further comment.

Al Shuwaib reiterated that Kuwait was revising its investment strategy in the oil sector after saying several times it would spend $55bn in five years. (Reuters)

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