CAPT okays request to grant 2 gas tankers building tender to HyundaiKUWAIT CITY, Nov 28: Kuwait officially became a gasoline importing country on a daily basis as of April 2017, reports Al- Anba daily. Kuwait has been buying 1.4 million liters of gasoline worth KD 214,000 every day from the world market to cover the needs of the local market due to the insufficient refining capacity of the Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries.Senior oil sources disclosed Kuwait imports every month 30,000 tons of gasoline (equivalent of 42 million liters) worth approximately 6.5 million dinars. Kuwait’s import of gasoline, the world’s sixth-largest oil producer, has often raised questions about the import of oil derivatives, its link to refinery insufficiencies or the economic viability of imports, which cost 150 fils to import one liter of gasoline.The sources said the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has put a request to import three shipments of gasoline during December according to a tender floated by the corporation.ImportKuwait imports gasoline to meet its needs because of the large consumption due to the steady increase in the number of cars while local production is no longer sufficient to cover it, the sources added. Although there are two refineries in Kuwait, they do not have sufficient refining capacity to cover the gasoline shortage because the rate of extraction and production is very low.The process will not be profitable and will not add value to the crude oil. It is better to import gasoline and sell crude oil in oil markets because Kuwait does not have the potential to produce gasoline until new units go into operation in both the Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries in October 2018 within the environmental fuel project.The cost of producing gasoline at Kuwaiti refineries is between 155 and 163 fils per liter. This makes importing less expensive and benefits the Treasury. Meanwhile, the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) has approved the request of Kuwait Oil Tankers Company to grant the tender for building two gas tankers to Hyundai Company for Heavy Industries at a cost of KD 71.1 million per tanker, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources. They praised the decision to cancel the previous tender due to the high prices offered, which was KD 140 million per gas tanker, affirming that the current tender managed to save KD 140 million from the total cost of the two tankers. Meanwhile, the Executive President of KOTC Sheikh Talal Al- Khalid Al-Sabah commended the company’s board of directors for its support of the decision of the executive management to cancel the previous tender and re-fl oat it again.