Full speed ahead for Kuwait

Kuwait is on the road to boosting oil-production capacity to 4m b/d, but lifting fuel subsidies will be trickier

Kuwait will forge ahead in 2017 with plans to boost its crude-oil-production capacity to 4m barrels a day by the end of the decade, through partnerships with Shell and BP. Enhanced technical-service agreements with the two European oil majors will raise capacity from the present level of 2.8m b/d. Shell will develop the Ratqa field, near the Iraqi border in northern Kuwait. A first phase of development has a target of producing 60,000 b/d of heavy crude oil. This will rise to 120,000 b/d by 2020 and possibly to 270,000 b/d at a later date. Shell separately is helping with water management at a number of fields. BP is tasked with maintaining production of 1.7m b/d at the supergiant Burgan fie