Kuwait remains quiet over scale of reserves

Kuwait's oil minister Sheikh Ali Al Jarrah Al Sabah has announced the country will never disclose the size of its reserves for reasons of national security.

"Kuwait has not and will not disclose the size of its oil reserves," he said. "The Kuwait people are not concerned with numbers. This is related to national security."

Some analysts suggest the statement was a backlash in response to a report made by Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW). The report claimed it had seen internal Kuwaiti records showing reserves were around 48 billion barrels - half the officially stated 99 billion barrels. The oil minister vehemently denies the find.

"All Kuwaiti lands are reserves and every day there are new discoveries that are not announced, but that doesn't mean Kuwait does not know the size of its reserves," said the minister.

The announcement follows an important light oil and gas find in the al-Dhabi region in northern Kuwait. Officials declined to detail the size of the discovery.