Kuwait is preparing to invite international oil and gas companies to develop new hydrocarbon discoveries, its prime minister said, in a reversal of years of political resistance to foreign energy operators.
“Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is pursuing a plan to invite international oil companies to assist Kuwait Oil Company in the development of recently announced offshore oil and gas discoveries in Kuwait,” Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al Sabah told the Kuwait Oil and Gas Show.
Kuwait, Opec’s fifth-largest producer, has announced major new finds including 800 million barrels of oil and 600 billion cubic feet of gas at Al-Jlaiaa in 2025, following a 3.2bn barrel oil-equivalent discovery at Al-Nokhatha in 2024.
The entry of international oil companies could help Kuwait raise its production capacity to 4 million barrels per day by 2035. Around 3.65 million bpd is expected to come from KOC’s assets, with 350,000 bpd expected to be added from Kuwait’s portion of the Neutral Zone it shares with Saudi Arabia. Kuwait produced 2.576 million bpd of crude in December, according to Opec’s secondary sources.
Kuwait, one of the least-diversified oil producers in the Gulf, has struggled to reach its targeted production capacity as years of political turmoil made it impossible for foreign companies to operate in the energy sector.
Recent political resets have effectively removed the opposition that had long blocked foreign participation in Kuwait’s upstream sector, clearing a path for international companies to enter projects previously considered off-limits.
Kuwait needs foreign expertise to help offset production capacity declines at its fast-ageing Greater Burgan field, considered to be the world’s second-largest and accounting for the majority of the country’s production.
Another potential source of capacity growth is the shared Neutral Zone, which resumed production in 2020 after more than four years offline because of a dispute between the two neighbours, though operational challenges have continued to limit expansion. Kuwait also plans to jointly develop the offshore Durra field with Saudi Arabia. Iran has challenged the joint Saudi-Kuwaiti claim to the field.
Separately on Monday, Anglo-Dutch major Shell agreed to sell a 20 per cent stake in its Orca offshore project in Brazil to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, a KPC subsidiary.
