Fuel price review eyed
GCC Internet rates to decline: official
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25, (KUNA): Fuel prices in the country will be revalued early December, as people started consuming Premium instead of the Super fuel, said senior official at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC).
The Cabinet has assigned the subsidies committee to re-examine prices of petroleum products every three months, KNPC’s Deputy CEO for Support Services Basem Al-Eissa told KUNA on Tuesday. The committee will discuss the current conditions to decide the suitable prices, he added.
Local consumption of fuel has changed since the recent raise, especially with the price difference between Premium and Super. Consumption rates of Premium jumped from 20 percent to 80 percent after the raise, the official said.
He added that KNPC has launched an application called “Kuwait Fuel” for smartphones, aiming to help people choose the right fuel for their cars.
Meanwhile, Al-Eissa noted that the company is currently executing the biggest projects in its history since its establishment in 1960.
The most prominent project is the Clean Fuel Project at Mina Abdullah and Al-Ahmadi Refineries set to launch mid-2018, with a production capacity of 800, 000 barrels per day, he said.
KNPC is also working on AlZour Refinery Project, set to open in Q3 2019, with a production rate of 615,000 barrels per day, he said. The company’s refining capacity is
expected to jump to 1.4 million barrel daily, once the two projects were complete, he added.
Al-Eissa also spoke of the Fifth LPG Train project for processing additional gases from fields and refining plants. The project is set to open in April 2019, with a production rate of 805 million square foot of gas daily.
KNPC is also developing a Sulphur Handling Facilities project at Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery and Flare Gas Recovery Unit project to reduce environment pollution caused by gas flaring, said Al-Eissa.
The company provides essential energy substances all over Kuwait, he said, adding that KNPC gained profits of KD 176 million for the fiscal year 201516.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member nations are in the process of finalizing prices of Internet service on smart phones, President of Bahrain’s Central Informatics Telecommunications Organization (CITO) Dr Ahmad Al-Amer said on Tuesday.
In a statement to KUNA on the sidelines of an Arab Forum on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Al-Amer noted that Internet prices in the GCC are expected to decline in the next five years.
Moreover, he pointed to the rise of the ICT sector, describing it as a significant tool that can be employed to attain further economic growth.
Meanwhile, President of the
Federation of Arab Engineers Theyaa Tawfiki said that the ICT sector has morphed into a comprehensive job market that has created an abundance of opportunities for employment.
Speaking on the prospect of further growth, Tawfiki urged Arab nations to follow in India’s footsteps, where the ICT sector there has contributed immensely to economic development.
The ICT forum, in its seventh edition, focuses on how ICT can be instrumental to economic growth and is organized by the Federation of Arab Engineers.
The forum will tackle issues germane to the role of ICT in educational and healthcare realms, in addition to the perks of using a geographic information system (GIS).