Middle East

Kuwait

Kuwait is a key Opec producer, with capacity touching 3mn b/d, but is dependent on LNG imports. A fractious political system continues to bedevil ambitious plans to increase production capacity.

State of Play

Kuwait has acknowledged defeat on its bid to increase production capacity to 4mn b/d by 2020. The cornerstone of this was Kuwait Oil Company’s 3.65mn b/d target, but in late-2018 this was pushed back to at least 2023. The next planned milestone is the mid-2019 start of the Lower Fars Phase One Heavy Oil development. A new team at the top will have to contend with an increasingly agitative parliament.

2020 In Numbers

Crude Output	2.42	mn b/d
Crude Exports	1.87	mn b/d
Refining capacity	0.736	mn b/d
Oil & Gas export revenue	36.2	$bn

OPEC & Global Markets

11 Nov, 2022

Featured

Al Zour To Bolster East-West Products Trade

Start up of Kuwait’s long-delayed 615,000 b/d Al Zour refinery comes as Europe’s distillate crunch has created new marketing opportunities for Mideast products. Having hit a multi-year high of 700,000 b/d, Gulf-to-Europe distillate trade is set to strengthen further over the coming months.