Kuwait could boost its oil capacity to four million barrels per day eight years earlier than planned after recently announced finds, Kuwait's oil minister said yesterday.
"We could," said Shaikh Ali Al Jarrah Al Sabah, when asked about a Kuwaiti newspaper report last weekend that said capacity could reach 4m million bpd by 2012 instead of the previous target of 2020.
Opec member Kuwait's existing capacity is 2.8m bpd.
Last month, Kuwait made an oil and gas find in the Al Dhabi region in the north of the country.
Shaikh Ali described the find as important.
A plan to boost output from four other northern fields would also figure in the country's plans to accelerate capacity addition, Shaikh Ali said on the sidelines of an energy event in Cairo.
The plan, known as Project Kuwait, has faced opposition from some parliamentarians who saw no need to boost output as state coffers were already bulging with record oil revenues.
Shaikh Ali has asked investment banks Morgan Stanley and Lazard to review Project Kuwait, with a view to submitting a revised plan to parliament later this year.
Other Opec members, uncertain about how environmental regulations and alternative fuels will hit demand, have grown more cautious about capacity increases. They are reluctant to spend billions of dollars on new projects only for them to lie idle.
"We could," said Shaikh Ali Al Jarrah Al Sabah, when asked about a Kuwaiti newspaper report last weekend that said capacity could reach 4m million bpd by 2012 instead of the previous target of 2020.
Opec member Kuwait's existing capacity is 2.8m bpd.
Last month, Kuwait made an oil and gas find in the Al Dhabi region in the north of the country.
Shaikh Ali described the find as important.A plan to boost output from four other northern fields would also figure in the country's plans to accelerate capacity addition, Shaikh Ali said on the sidelines of an energy event in Cairo.
The plan, known as Project Kuwait, has faced opposition from some parliamentarians who saw no need to boost output as state coffers were already bulging with record oil revenues.
Shaikh Ali has asked investment banks Morgan Stanley and Lazard to review Project Kuwait, with a view to submitting a revised plan to parliament later this year.
Other Opec members, uncertain about how environmental regulations and alternative fuels will hit demand, have grown more cautious about capacity increases. They are reluctant to spend billions of dollars on new projects only for them to lie idle.
