Kuwait defends its oil fields policy

During a seminar currently being held in Bahrain about oil, a Kuwaiti official has defended his country's policy of getting foreign companies involved in developing oil fields in Kuwait.

AFP quoted the deputy director for the Kuwait Oil Company, Nader Sultan, as saying at the inauguration of the seventh symposium on gas and oil in the Middle East, which started in Manama on April 12, that the strategy set by Kuwait for 1994/1995 aims at increasing daily oil production to 3 million barrels in 2005, adding that such an objective is not attainable unless foreign countries provide necessary aid.

He continued that Kuwait's cooperation with world oil companies will help increase its oil reserves to the maximum. He noted that certain Kuwaiti oil fields, including al-Abdali, al-Manaqish, Um Ghadeir and al-Saberiyeh, are still under exploration.

The Kuwaiti oil official said the oil fields include reserves estimated at 16 billion barrels and that with the help of world companies total oil production in these fields will reach 1.3 million barrels per day in the year 2005 against the current production of 590,000 barrels.

Last February, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah announced that foreign investments in Kuwait to develop and modernize oil fields in the northern parts of the country are necessary to double the production of these fields, which is estimated at 450,000 barrels every day.

Kuwait owns 10% of the world's oil reserves which are estimated at 94 billion barrels. It is expected, according to the current production rate that such reserves will be enough for the next 100 years.