Kuwait Oil Company to invest $6 bn in exploration

The Kuwait Oil Company plans to invest more than $6.1 billion in exploration over the next five years, and increase production to 4 million barrels per day by 2040 up from the 2020 average of 2.43 million bpd, according to Aljarida reports.

The company had completed some 93 percent of the construction of the heavy oil plant project in the South Ratqa field, and in preparation for the operation of the field and full production, some 930 wells had been processed, he added.

The production of heavy oil had now reached about 60 thousand barrels per day, which it plans to export, he said

Kuwait’s fiscal breakeven Brent oil price for 2022 is set to fall to US$64.50 per barrel (pb) from US$69.30 pb in 2021 and US$68.10 pb in 2020, according to IMF figures, would seem cause for optimism for the Emirate’s ability to turn around its recent financial troubles.

Indeed, the US$6 billion+ investment announcement from the KOC) seems to have been produced in part on the back of this apparently positive budget data input, given that crude oil still accounts for around 90 percent of the Emirate’s exports and government revenue.

Specifically, the KOC said that it plans to drill 700 wells per year over the investment period, an increase of approximately 300 wells, having also completed to date around 93 percent of the construction of the heavy oil plant project in the broadly promising South Ratqa field.