Kuwait-Saudi oil field shut down ‘for technical reasons’

Production from the joint Kuwaiti-Saudi oil field was shut down due to technical reasons, not oil supply, said a Kuwaiti official.

The 300,000-barrel-a-day Khafji offshore field, located in a neutral zone between the two Arabian Gulf states, was halted in October.

“The cut in production has no relationship with oil supply and demand,” said Abdulaziz Al-Attar, team leader in International Market, Crude oil Department at state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

“This is due to pure technical factors.”

Kuwait is currently exporting 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd), with a current oil production capacity exceeding 3 million bpd. Around 80 per cent of oil goes to Asia, 15 per cent to the United States and 5 per cent to Europe.

Kuwait is on track to boost production to 4 million bpd by 2020.

Also the Gulf state plans to boost refining capacity to over 1.3 million bpd by 2019 from the current 940,000 bpd.

dalsaadi@thenational.ae

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter