Monday, Feb 13, 2012

KUWAIT CITY (Dow Jones)--Gulf oil producers aren't formally considering a contingency plan to mitigate the impact of any blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the sea route through which about a fifth of the world's oil is shipped, a Kuwait oil official said Monday, downplaying threats from Tehran.

"There is not any formal discussion on the topic. I think everyone is working on their own," the official, who asked not to be named, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Kuwait doubts that the situation will reach that stage or there will be a war and damage on oil facilities in the region," the official said.

Threats to close the Strait, just 34 miles wide at its narrowest point, came after the U.S. and its allies turned up the heat on Iran to press it to provide more information on its nuclear program, which it says is peaceful.

Western nations have boosted their naval presence in the area, led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Earlier this month, the Iranian state media said the Revolutionary Guard was starting a month of planned maneuvers near the Strait.

The Kuwaiti official said that if Gulf countries were to consider a contingency plan they will either examine boosting the use of the 745-mile Petroline, a pipeline crossing from Eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea or the 1.5 million barrel-a-day pipeline that crosses the emirate of Abu Dhabi and ends at the port of Fujairah, just south of the Strait.

Consumers of Iranian oil in the European Union, which banned those imports, haven't contacted Kuwait for extra oil, the official said.

Kuwait, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is currently producing about 2.9 million barrels per day of crude oil, a level which it can "sustain without any issue for a long period," the official said.

Kuwait's capacity currently stands at 3.1 million barrels per day but experts sometimes question whether pumping at maximum production capacity can be sustained for a long time.

-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

13-02-12 0906GMT