Kuwait working to mitigate COVID-19 impact on oil market

KUWAIT: Deputy Board Chairman of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) Hashem Hashem said workers in oil sector exert praiseworthy efforts around the clock to ensure supplies to market despite challenges posed by novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. In a statement to the press on Friday, Hashem, also KPC’s CEO, took pride in the dedication of the oil workers to “the march of giving” and the achievement of the targets of the oil sector strategy 2040 amid the challenging circumstances. “Their relentless efforts bore fruit and helped the State of Kuwait increase its oil output recently, and start producing heavy crude oil from the northern fields, and tapping into the resources of Khafji oilfield in the Neutral Zone,” he pointed out.

Kuwait’s oil output surged to nearly 2.9 million barrels per day in March and is to continue increasing to 3.15 million bpd in April, Hashem expected based on the estimates of the rise in the joint production in the Neutral Zone and Al-Wafrah oilfields. “The oil workers continue making tremendous efforts to ensure sustainable oil and gas supplies to the local and global markets, and marketing oil, by-products and petrochemicals amid dwindling demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” he went on. Regarding KPC’s corporate social responsibility, Hashem said the corporation made trailblazing contributions to the state’s efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19.”Since the pandemic reached Kuwait in late February, KPC has set and equipped several sites as quarantines and put them at the disposal of the Ministry of Health,” he noted. Hashem pledged that the corporation would continue backing the fight against the pandemic and carrying out the oil sector strategy 2040 as per the set timeline.

In other news, the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) announced the operation of three new clean fuel producing units at the Al-Ahmadi Refinery. The sulfur block unit No. 141 with a production capacity of 50,000 barrels a day and two sulfur extraction units No. 151 and 152 have entered the operation phase, Deputy CEO for Projects Department and KNPC Spokesman Abdullah Al-Ajmi said Thursday. He pointed out that the three units are crucially important parts of KNPC’s ambitious clean fuel project. They are highly profitable and produce ultra-low sulfur products which comply with the state-of-the-art international environment protection standards, Ajmi said.