Kuwait Greenlights Game-Changing Gas Fields Project After Years of Delay

Kuwait is green-lighting the development of non-associated gas fields after seven years of delays, according to a new report by S&P Global Platts, in a move that would more than double the Jurassic field’s non-associated gas production which has been static since 2010.

The northern areas of the Gulf emirate will supply the gas-hungry Kuwaiti energy market with new supplies once tenders to build the new fields are fulfilled, the report said.

Companies bidding on the engineering, construction, and procurement pieces of the tender have until Friday to submit their bids, sources close to the matter said.

Kuwait had previously launched an effort to build production in its Jurassic fields back in 2010, but production has stagnated at 180 million cubic feet per day since then. But now, the government plans to grow gas output to 510 million cubic feet per day, along with 200,000 bpd of light oil by the end of 2017.

The Jurassic fields will gain three early production fields that will produce 100 million cubic feet of gas per day and 40,000 bpd of light oil each. The first of the trio will begin production by the end of this month, the second by October and the last by December, state oil minister Issam Almarzooq said during the summer.

Almarzooq said last Friday that global crude and refined product stockpiles have “massively drained” as a result of OPEC’s oil production reduction agreement.

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“We are on the right track and there is now more light at the end of the tunnel,” Almarzooq said at the start of the meeting on Friday. “This is not the time to take our foot off the accelerator."

The Jurassic fields plan would contradict Kuwait’s stern opposition to new oil production, which would reduce the impact of OPEC’s market rebalancing efforts. It is unclear if Kuwait would activate the oil production in light of the ongoing oil price crisis.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

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