KUWAIT CITY, March 30: The CEO of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah, confirmed that the fluctuation in oil prices is due to the fears of some customers who face some American and Swiss banks and the possibility of an economic recession, reports Al-Rai daily. Al-Saud was speaking on the sidelines of a Ramadan Ghabqa organized by the Union of Petroleum Workers and the Petrochemical Industry. He said, “I visited our customers in Japan, Korea and Taiwan and found them still interested in oil supplies and did not find any effect on these concerns.”

Al-Saud added that with the operation of the Al-Zour refinery, the exported quantities will decrease, indicating that Kuwait’s share in OPEC Plus is 2.76 million barrels per day, and the increase in exports will be linked to an increase in Kuwait’s share in OPEC Plus. He pointed out to the decision if OPEC Plus to install quotas during 2023, and later on, Kuwait’s production capacity will increase, and “our plans are to reach 2.9 million, then to 3 million barrels by next year, to reach 4 million barrels by 2035. In this case, the quotas will be distributed according to what OPEC sees fit, indicating that during the last distribution quotas take into account Kuwait’s ability to increase its production.”

Al-Saud affirmed that Kuwait will maintain its current capacity and it will gradually rise, and “we are currently working to seize the opportunities that exist in the global market, especially diesel and intermediate derivatives in Europe, in light of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which opened an opportunity to increase our exports of petroleum derivatives and achieve additional profits.”

The head of the Federation of Petroleum and Petrochemical Workers, Muhammad Mishaan Al-Otaibi, confirmed that there is complete coordination with the executive management of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and “we have a clear and specific plan of action regarding labor claims, and this plan has our priorities, congratulating the workers on the holy month.”

With regard to the employment file, Al-Otaibi expected that there would be upcoming announcements, as was done in the previous period, with the removal of many conditions, especially since the employment announcements for the previous period are proceeding reasonably compared to the previous period, especially for bachelor’s or diploma holders, or oil and petroleum majors, which have no place today except for the oil sector.

For his part, the head of the Kuwait Oil Workers Union, Abbas Awad, said we support the actual Kuwaitization plan, whether in the government or private oil sector, considering that the current Kuwaitization rate is politically illusory and does not reach 30 percent, saying, “There is a consensus between us and the current executive management at KPC.” Awad pointed out that preserving the rights and entitlements of workers is the basis of the work of trade unions and the Petroleum Federation. Until now, praise be to God, we have achieved many achievements and new gains. There are remarkable things on the way that are currently being worked on in a respectful manner with the executive management in the oil sector, hoping that the upcoming projects will focus on national employment for development of Kuwait.