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Nolan County Texas, USA, 05/27/2018: Crude oil extraction pump pulling crude oil up to the surface and pushing it into pipelines in the Permian Basin in West Texas.
OPEC member Kuwait approved capital spending of nearly 1.7 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($5.6 billion) for ongoing projects to boost crude output capacity and tap its massive gas resources, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The programme, which was launched a few years ago, aims to boost the country’s oil production capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day in 2030 and to develop gas deposits to satisfy domestic demand and reduce reliance on gas imports.
The Arabic language daily Alanba, quoting official oil sources, said Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), which manages the country’s upstream industry, is pushing ahead with major expansion projects in the hydrocarbon sector after those allocations were approved.
“Capital spending by KOC leaped by nearly 95 percent in the 2022-2023 fiscal year to reach around KWD1.7 billion compared with KWD871 million ($2.87 billion) in the previous fiscal year,” the paper said.
It quoted the sources as saying high crude prices boosted KOC’s assets to a record high of KWD16.7 billion ($55 billion) at the end of the past fiscal year on 31 March.
“By maximising capital spending, KOC aims to achieve some of its strategic targets, including expanding crude output capacity and doubling non-associated gas production from 500 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) to one billion cf/d,” it said.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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