Kuwait's Energy Minister, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al-Sabah, has said the cost of plans to develop four oil fields with the assistance of foreign oil firms will surpass $8.5 billion. Sheikh Ahmad has told a press conference that the cost was raised from an early estimate of US$7 billion.
The returns of foreign companies during the 20-year investment will be US$3.2 billion, he said, ACCORDING TO afp.
The controversial multi-billion-dollar oil development project has been stalled for over a decade because of objection by MPs who want to be sure that national oil resources will not be surrendered to international players.
The investment aims at boosting output from secondary reservoirs of oilfields bordering Iraq as part of Kuwait’s strategic plan to increase output from 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) at present to four million bpd in 2020.
Kuwait has set up a new company to manage Project Kuwait in a bid to accelerate the process.
