Two major oil refining projects that cost nearly $30 billion in Kuwait will be fully commissioned by the end of 2020 , allowing the OPEC member to attain its refining output target of 1.6 million bpd, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Al-Zour refinery in South Kuwait with a capacity of 615,000 bpd, one of the world's largest oil refining units, will be fully operated before the end of the year, the Arabic language daily Alanba said, quoting official oil sources.

The Clean Fuel Project (CFP), one of the largest refining projects in Kuwait's history, will also go into full swing towards the end of 2020, it said.

"This will allow Kuwait to achieve its targeted domestic refining production capacity of 1.6 million bpd...around 425,000 bpd will also be produced abroad through joint ventures with Kuwait," the report added.

CFP, which was awarded five years ago, involves the development of Kuwait's two main oil refineries of Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah, which had a combined production capacity of around 735,000 bpd before the project was launched.

Officials said in early 2020 that the Gulf country, which controls the world's 6th largest proven oil deposits, has invested nearly 4.3 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($14.2 billion) in the CFP, below a budget of 4.68 billion dinars ($15.44 billion) approved by the Kuwait cabinet six years ago.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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