ROME, Dec 3: The state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) CEO Sheikh Nawaf Saud Nasser Al- Sabah affirmed on Friday KPC’s keenness to develop the Kuwaiti oil sector to effectively contribute to maintaining global energy security and achieving economic and industrial growth. “The KPC, as a leading energy institution, is interested in retaining global energy security and supporting a national and global economic growth,” Sheikh Nawaf Saud told KUNA on the sidelines of his participation in the Rome-hosted Mediterranean Dialogues (MED 2022). He asserted that KPC is also keen on meeting the needs of energy markets and its customers around the world from crude oil and petroleum derivatives. He highlighted the corporation’s investment plans to increase production capacity and introduce new products through its three refineries: Al-Zour refinery, Mina Al-Abdulla and Mina Al-Ahmadi. He pointed to the ambitious clean fuel project that was launched in March 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2023 to produce environmentally friendly petroleum derivatives, exporting lowsulfur diesel to European markets and increasing production from this products to one million tons this year, with plans to be doubled next year.

Projects
These projects are meant to help keep petroleum products within the components of the energy mix amid the ongoing global transformation, he clarified. He reiterated that Kuwait believes fossil fuel will remain important for meeting the global energy needs, even in the future after the current transition. The petroleum products are an indispensable component of the energy mix, he affirmed.

He stated that the Kuwaiti oil sector is trying to strike a balance between the demand for maintaining security and energy supplies and responding to the challenges of climate change through increasing production capacity of crude oil to cover the increase in Kuwait’s export quota according to OPEC+ agreement and in the same time working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from crude oil and petroleum derivatives. He said that KPC attaches great importance to preserving the share of Kuwaiti crude oil and petroleum derivatives in the global energy mix.

He indicated that KPC’s invitation to participate in the MED 2022 dialogues on energy security and the role of major institutions in achieving this goal shows the important role played by the KPC and its subsidiary the Kuwait Petroleum International which owns 2,800 gas stations in Italy and about 5,000 gas stations across Europe. Sheikh Nawaf Saud explained that this presence and huge investments demonstrate Kuwait’s role in cooperating with friendly European countries through supplying them with oil products needed for the development of their economies and in return finding safe outlets for Kuwaiti petroleum products in Europe. Earlier on the day, KPC chief partook in a session entitled “Towards a Broader Approach for Energy Security” which was also attended by Bahraini and Algerian oil and energy ministers and the CEO of the Italian group Eni. (KUNA)