Kuwait's northern oil fields are producing 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), expected to reach 800,000 bpd next March, said Kuwait Oil Company 's Deputy Managing Director for North Kuwait Husniya Hashim. Speaking at the opening of the "3rd KOC Sharing Best Practices Conference" at the Hilton Hotel, she added tha KOC aims to bring production of free gas to a billion cubic foot by 2017-18. Hashim remarked such conferences are means to keep up with new ideas and experiences, with 165 working papers discussed this time around during the two-day sessions. In addition to KOC , there would also be reviews of experiences and developments by Kuwait Gulf Oil Company ( KGOC ) and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC). On most important impressions and results after the last two conferences, she pointed out cooperation among staff of different oil companies.
"The challenges facing the Kuwaiti oil sector are very serious. We review them here in hope of benefitting from each other's experiences in the areas of production of oil and gas, means to increase oil reserves, and training of staff, all of which are to be discussed in the working papers to give us a better idea about what truly constitutes 'Best Practices'," she remarked. Her own paper is to discuss KOC 's visions in various sectors and the challenge it is facing in hiking output from 3 to 4 billion bpd. She noted, challenges include difficulties related to pumping of water in the reservoirs and the difficulties in producing heavy oil, production of which is set to reach 60,000 bpd by 2015.
KOC is also facing challenges in gas production. Hashim noted that the plan is to bring production of free gas from 120 million cubic foot to 500-600 million, and all the way to a billion cubic foot by 2017-2018. The fact is that KOC is currently dealing with reservoirs never encountered in its previous experience. The factor of expertise, she stressed, is therefore a critical one. "Leading international corporations had been invited to take part in the sessions, and we shall benefit from their expertise in dealing with such reservoirs," Hashim said.
Source: KUNA