Kuwait-Saudi in talks on possible oil ‘re-production’ in neutral zone

Oil prices hike boosts Arab production growth

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 13, (Agencies): Minister of Oil, Minister of Electricity and Water Engineer Bakheet AlRasheedi and Chief Executive Officer of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Nizar Al-Adasani arrived in Saudi Arabia in an announced visit and is likely to give a positive boost to the oil production talks in the neutral zone, reports Al-Rai daily.

According to reliable sources the visit will be an advanced step to conclude the issue of oil production in the partitioned Neutral Zone (AlKhafji and Al-Wafra), especially since it comes two days after the Gulf summit in Riyadh, which touches on the keenness of the two sides to close this file which has remained suspended for nearly four years.

The visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Kuwait in early October was an occasion to give boost to the efforts of the re-production momentum where technical talks were held between the two officials and concluded with agreeing to hold other meetings to overcome the obstacles.

“The issue of the divided zone with Kuwait has been resolved,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubair had said. “We are discussing ways to resume the production of crude oil in the neutral zone soon,” he added.

The oil prices hike boosted the expectations of acceleration in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the Arab region at an average rate of 2.8 percent to reach $2.7 trillion in 2018, the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation “Dhaman” said on Wednesday.

Dhaman added in its quarterly publication issued today that this increase is expected to continue at a rate of 3.9 percent to reach $2.8 trillion in 2019.

This increase came despite the challenges facing the Arab economy due to international commercial pressure and regional conflicts ramifications, as well as the continuous resistance to financial reform programs, besides other factors, it said.

The governmental budgets performance might develop, so that countries fulfilling financial surplus will raise from one country in 2017 to five countries in the years 2018 and 2019, it added.

The improvement in oil prices and reforms in exchange prices will reflect on the foreign performance indices, with an improvement in current account performance in 12 Arab countries, including six ones achieving a financial surplus during years 2018 and 2019, it said.

It also expected the stability in a number of countries that has a foreign loan below 50 percent of its GDP at eight countries only in year 2018, while countries witnessing an improvement in foreign loan index will climb from 11 countries, and will reach 12 by year 2019.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) date indicates that the international reserves in the region’s countries grew to $158 billion this year, while it might reach $111 billion in 2019, it said.

This is accompanied with the stability in a number of Arab countries in which the secure boarders that the reserves are covering the state’s incomes for a period of five months at ten countries during the year 2018, it added.

The number of Arab nations that are within the secure boarders in which the reserves cover the country’s income stabilized for a period of five months in ten countries in year 2017 compared to 2016, it added.

Regarding the direct foreign investments expectations in the Arab countries, it witnessed an increase in some Arab countries like UAE and Egypt.

Dhaman called on the Arab countries to fulfill a sustainable growth and improve its economic indices with continuing the financial, economic, and legislative reform programs, which would reflect positively in its economies and attract trade and investments in general.