Kuwait sees demand for oil and gas rising under Trump

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation last year announced plans to spend about $30 billion over five years to increase its oil production capacity

Bader Al-Attar, managing director of planning and finance at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Photo: CERAWeek by S&P Global

Kuwait sees global demand for oil and gas growing in part due to US President Donald Trump's administration.

"I think, in a nutshell to us, it is more demand," Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) managing director of planning and finance Bader Al-Attar told The National on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P conference in Houston, Texas, when asked what the view from Kuwait is on Mr Trump's embrace of the energy sector.

His sentiments echoed that of delegates who have flocked to Texas – the largest oil-producing state in the US – this week in what was the first major energy conference since Mr Trump began his second term in office. CERAWeek, sometimes informally referred to as the "Oscars" or the "Super Bowl" of energy, features onstage interviews with top executives of some of the biggest companies in the industry.

In separate keynote addresses earlier this week, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE's Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc, and Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser emphasised the need to invest in energy. So have other industry leaders, including TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne and ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance.

We see demand coming, and in the in the long run, we see that oil and gas is going to still be playing a big role in the demand for energy in the world

Bader Al-Attar,
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

The conference comes a week after the Opec+ alliance agreed to unwind voluntary production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day beginning next month, which will add 138,000 bpd per month until September 2026. Kuwaiti production quota is around 2.4 million bpd this year before gradually scaling it to around 2.5 million bpd in 2026 with the unwinding of production cuts.

Opec said it could pause or reverse the gradual increase subject to market conditions to allow the group to support oil market stability.

"We see demand coming, and in the long run, we see that oil and gas is going to still be playing a big role in the demand for energy across the world," Mr Al-Attar said. "What we see in the news these days … [is] that demand is coming, and we need to be ready for that," he said.

The longer-term demand will also be supported by growth in global population as well improving standard of living across continents, he added.

Kuwait is among the top 10 oil producers in the world, according to the US Energy Information Administration data.

KPC last year announced plans to spend about $30 billion over five years to increase its oil production capacity, which stood at 2.8 million bpd in 2024.

Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, also spoke during the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas. Bloomberg

Kuwait currently has an oil production capacity of 3 million bpd. Mr Al-Atter expects the country to maintain this level for the time being and then gradually increase to 4 million bpd by 2035 and maintain it through to 2040.

In July last year, KPC announced discovery of two new offshore oilfields – the Al-Julaia field and Al-Nokhatha field – as part of its exploration efforts over a 12-month period. The latter has an estimated 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, KPC said at the time.

A third location is also being drilled, "and we are hoping to see good results from that too", Mr Al-Attar said.

"This is all part of the strategy so that we can grow our production … from exploration locations such as this one and others onshore [fields]," he said.

Kuwait being one of the lowest-cost and one of the lowest carbon intense crude producer also bodes well for the country, its plans to boost production and securing new clientele, Mr Al-Atter said.

"We are a reliable and secure supplier of oil and gas to the world," he said.