11-03-09 A top official at the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announced that the company would invest about $ 80 bn over the next five years to increase production and expand refinery capacity.
On the oil price which was at $ 46 a barrel, Sheikh Nawaf Saud Nasir Al Sabah, deputy managing director and general counsel, thought it was now "not far away form the comfortable zone".

The official, who was speaking at the sidelines of the Wharton Global Forum in Dubai, admitted the global economic crisis had forced the company to rethink some of its timings to achieve its goals.
But he added: "Our essential elements remain unchanged. We are planning to deploy our considerable resources to position ourselves to capture market opportunities on the way down and on the inevitable way up."

He revealed that about $ 80 bn would be spent in a five-year plan which would include increasing production capacity to 3 mm bpd next year with an extra 500,000 bpd over five years.
He said the company also intended to expand its refinery capacity in Kuwait to 1.4 mm bpd through building a new refinery and upgrading existing ones.