Total signs Kuwait oil contract

France's Total signed a deal on July 9 to provide technical assistance to state-owned Kuwait Oil (KOC) on oil-fields shared with Saudi Arabia, a KOC official said.

The deal with Total "has been signed. It's a technical service agreement for three and a half years," said a KOC spokesman.

Total will provide technical advice on oil fields in the neutral zone, an area which straddles Kuwait's southern border with Saudi Arabia and is operated jointly by the two countries. The zone produces about 240,000 barrels per day (BPD), shared 50-50 by the two states. Kuwait is represented in the zone by KOC, while Saudi Arabian Texaco represents Riyadh.

Total, which had been negotiating with KOC for several months, is the third major oil company to sign such an accord.

KOC has similar fee-based agreements with BP, which renewed its contract for three years in August 1996.

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