Page 5 - GLNG Week 50 2022

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

readiness for talks in this regard.” of the onshore Wafra and offshore Al-Khafji
Iran started talks with Kuwait in 2000 to oilfields, output from which has been ramping
develop the field but no agreements were up since a December 2019 agreement that broke
reached. Arash was discovered in 1962. It is esti- years of deadlock.
mated to hold around 13 trillion cubic feet (368 At capacity, the fields can produce around
bcm) of natural gas. 550,000 bpd – Al-Khafji 300,000 bpd and Wafra
250,000 bpd. Production is shared 50:50 by the
Fast-track two countries.
In June, Kuwait-Saudi working group focused on The fields were shut in because of disagree-
the development of joint oil and gas projects met ments between the two governments in 2014
this week to discuss the acceleration of efforts in and then in 2015. Following the 2019 agreement,
the PNZ. output increased to around 270,000 bpd by the
The expansion of production from the shared end of 2021 and the partners are working to
on- and offshore assets comes as both countries expand, with Kuwaiti officials last year announc-
work to raise total domestic oil capacity and ing ambitious though loose plans to reach a com-
come under pressure to meet higher OPEC+ bined output of 700,000 bpd.
quotas while maintaining spare capacity. Al-Sabah highlighted efforts to streamline
The Permanent Joint Committee for the PNZ, administrative, operating and safety procedures
also known as the divided zone, is comprised of and the importance of regular meetings in facil-
officials from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Oil (MoO) itating collaboration on the projects. The Saudi
and the Saudi Ministry of Energy. The meeting delegation was led by Saudi Assistant Energy
was held at the head office of the Wafra Joint Minister Mohammad Al-Brahim.
Operations (WJO) company. Kuwait has a target of increasing oil produc-
KGOC represents the country’s interests in tion capacity from around 2.8mn bpd to 3.5mn
WJO area, while Saudi Arabian Chevron (SAC) bpd by 2025 and to 4mn bpd a decade later. Saudi
carries out work on behalf of Saudi Arabia and its Arabia is working to expand its maximum sus-
NOC Saudi Aramco. tainable capacity (MSC) from 12.2mn bpd to
MoO undersecretary Dr. Nimir Al-Sabah 13mn bpd by 2027. This figure is seen reaching
was quoted by KUNA as saying that the meet- 13.4mn bpd including output from the PNZ.™
ing comes at a ‘crucial time’ in the development

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