Kuwait opens new oil gathering centre to boost output

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SABRIYA, Kuwait — Kuwait on Thursday opened a new gathering centre at its Sabriya oilfield as part of the Gulf state's drive to boost its oil output to four million barrels per day by 2020.

Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah inaugurated the centre at Kuwait's third largest oilfield near the northern border with Iraq.

The facility, built by South Korean SK Engineering and Construction Co. at a cost of 626.7 million dollars, can handle 165,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 85 million cubic feet of gas.

"The centre is one of the facilities contributing toward the 2020 strategy," said Sami al-Rasheed, the chairman of Kuwait Oil Co., the state-owned company responsible for production.

Gathering centres perform the physical separation of crude, natural gas, water and other impurities before pumping clean oil for either export or to refineries and gas to power stations.

SK president Kwang-Chul Choi said the project was completed six months ahead of schedule and went online a month ago. It had been slated to be completed in September.

The original centre, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border with Iraq, was damaged during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's forces.

Sheikh Ahmad said the centre and a number of other projects are part of OPEC member Kuwait's long-term strategy to raise production capacity to four million barrels per day.

"At present, we are capable of producing three million bpd," the minister told reporters after the opening ceremony, but declined to say if this was sustainable over long periods.

Kuwait, OPEC's fourth largest exporter, says it sits on 10 percent of global crude reserves. It has been pumping around 2.2 million bpd.