KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait Petroleum Corp. expects to spend more than $500 billion as it boosts its crude oil production capacity to 4.75 million barrels per day in 2040, the national oil firm said on Wednesday, outlining ambitious growth plans for the next two decades.
“KPC is expected to spend $114 billion in capex over the next five years and an additional $394 billion beyond that to 2040,” Chief Executive Nizar Al-Adsani told an oil industry conference.
Kuwait’s current oil production capacity is around 3.15 million bpd. It revealed the plan to lift capacity to 4.75 million bpd early last year.
The figure would exceed the current output of Iraq and Iran, OPEC’s second and third biggest oil nations, whose production was 4.4 million and 3.8 million bpd respectively in December.
Iraq and Iran plan to raise output steeply in the coming years to compete with OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, which produces around 10 million bpd and has capacity of more than 12 million bpd.
However, Iraq and Iraq are running far behind their targets to expand output because of infrastructure constraints, red tape and, in the case of Iran, the threat of Western sanctions.
The move by Kuwait to expand capacity signals a willingness among OPEC producers to fight for market share in the long term as global oil demand rises and as the organization faces competition from Russia and two fast-emerging oil superpowers, the US and Brazil.
Al-Adsani also told the conference that KPC intended to lift domestic oil refining capacity to
2 million bpd by 2035, while ensuring maximum offtake of domestic heavy oil production and taking into consideration the need to meet local energy demand.
KPC recently began a pre-feasibility study to lift refining capacity inside Kuwait by almost 300,000 bpd, Al-Adsani said without elaborating. Capacity was estimated at 936,000 bpd in 2015, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The company intends to expand into downstream derivative and specialty petrochemical products at facilities inside and outside the country, Al-Adsani added.
Meanwhile, non-associated natural gas production in Kuwait is to increase to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) in 2040, from 0.5 billion cfd expected in April 2018 and 1 billion cfd by 2023, Al-Adsani said.
As part of efforts to reduce emissions of harmful gases, KPC’s future power plants will be gas-fired, although it will use renewable energy when that makes commercial sense, he added.
Kuwait Petroleum to spend over $500bn by 2040
Kuwait Petroleum to spend over $500bn by 2040
Saudi POS transactions see 20% surge to hit $4bn: SAMA
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s total point-of-sale transactions surged by 20.4 percent in the week ending Nov. 29, to reach SR15.1 billion ($4 billion).
According to the latest data from the Saudi Central Bank, the number of POS transactions represented a 9.1 percent week-on-week increase to 240.25 million compared to 220.15 million the week before.
Most categories saw positive change across the period, with spending on laundry services registering the biggest uptick at 36 percent to SR65.1 million. Recreation followed, with a 35.3 percent increase to SR255.99 million.
Expenditure on apparel and clothing saw an increase of 34.6 percent, followed by a 27.8 percent increase in spending on telecommunication. Jewelry outlays rose 5.6 percent to SR354.45 million.
Data revealed decreases across only three sectors, led by education, which saw the largest dip at 40.4 percent to reach SR62.26 million.
Spending on airlines in Saudi Arabia fell by 25.2 percent, coinciding with major global flight disruptions. This followed an urgent Airbus recall of 6,000 A320-family aircraft after solar radiation was linked to potential flight-control data corruption. Saudi carriers moved swiftly to implement the mandatory fixes.
Flyadeal completed all updates and rebooked affected passengers, while flynas updated 20 aircraft with no schedule impact. Their rapid response contained the disruption, allowing operations to return to normal quickly.
Expenditure on food and beverages saw a 28.4 percent increase to SR2.31 billion, claiming the largest share of the POS. Spending on restaurants and cafes followed with an uptick of 22.3 percent to SR1.90 billion.
The Kingdom’s key urban centers mirrored the national decline. Riyadh, which accounted for the largest share of total POS spending, saw a 14.1 percent surge to SR5.08 billion, up from SR4.46 billion the previous week. The number of transactions in the capital reached 75.2 million, up 4.4 percent week-on-week.
In Jeddah, transaction values increased by 18.1 percent to SR2.03 billion, while Dammam reported a 14 percent surge to SR708.08 million.
POS data, tracked weekly by SAMA, provides an indicator of consumer spending trends and the ongoing growth of digital payments in Saudi Arabia.
The data also highlights the expanding reach of POS infrastructure, extending beyond major retail hubs to smaller cities and service sectors, supporting broader digital inclusion initiatives.
The growth of digital payment technologies aligns with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objectives, promoting electronic transactions and contributing to the nation’s broader digital economy.
