KUFPEC exceeds 100,000 barrels a day in production

KUWAIT: Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) announced highest production rate record since its establishment in 1981, exceeding 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed), as July’s rate reached 119,000 boed. In a press statement yesterday, KUFPEC CEO Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah said the company aims to reach 150,000 boed by 2020 and keep it up at that rate until 2040. The company continues to work on its vital projects in Australia, Norway and Canada to reach its goals, he added.

KUFPEC’s second pipeline for liquefied natural gas ‘Wheatstone LNG Project’ in Australia had started production mid-June with a rate of over 38,000 boed by now, Sheikh Nawaf said. The project’s development plan aims to provide the Australian market with gas, while also having the right to transfer part of the production to Kuwait should the need arise, he noted.

Meanwhile, the company’s production rate in Norway’s Greater Sleipner are was recorded at 30,000 boed. The area is Norway’s second largest center for natural gas, he added. As for Canada, the CEO said that KUFPEC’s shale gas project added 28 million boed to the company’s total reserve of 494 million barrel this year. KUFPEC’s current production rate in Canada is at 8,000 boed, he said, adding that the company dug 120 oil wells to boost performance and aims to reach 2000 wells in the coming years.

Moreover, Sheikh Nawaf said that KUFPEC’s production is 70 percent gas and 30 percent oil. He noted that natural gas prices are more stable than oil prices. He also mentioned that the company signed $1.1 billion finance agreement with a number of regional and international banks to help it expand its oil and gas production. The CEO added that KUFPEC had employed 30 Kuwaiti workers since 2017, to reach 80 percent rate of employments for Kuwaitis, including 14 employees working in the company’s offices abroad. Sheikh Nawaf said that KUFPEC’s assets go up to $7 billion, with investments in 13 companies around the world. KUFPEC is a subsidiary of stateowned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). It aims to boost output to 150,000 boed by 2020 from 119,000 boed currently, Sheikh Nawaf noted. — KUNA