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Kuwait on Track for Oil Capacity Boost: Minister | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – Kuwait remains on track to boost its oil output capacity to four million barrels per day by 2020, the oil minister said on Wednesday, retracting statements that the plan has been delayed by 10 years.

“The target production capacity of crude oil for the state of Kuwait is four million bpd in 2020,” Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah said in a statement cited by the official KUNA news agency.

“This capacity will be maintained until 2030,” the minister said.

Sheikh Ahmad told reporters on Tuesday that the strategic plan has been delayed for 10 years to 2030 because of a lack of sufficient manpower, adding that to achieve the target the emirate needed the help of foreign oil majors.

Kuwait, OPEC’s fourth-largest producer, announced in March that it had raised its output capacity to three million bpd.

The minister said on Tuesday the emirate still has the same capacity and that its current production is 2.2 million bpd according to OPEC quota.

Kuwait says it sits on 10 percent of proven global oil reserves.