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Kuwaiti Parliamentary Committee Approves Controversial Oil Project With Foreign Participation

Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 09:01 CDT

Kuwaiti parliamentary committee approves controversial oil project with foreign participation

KUWAIT CITY, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Kuwaiti parliamentary committee has approved a controversial project to develop the country's northern oil fields with foreign companies' participation, local newspaper Kuwait Times reported Wednesday.

The parliament's Financial and Economic Affairs Committee has approved the plan for foreign contractors to develop four oil fields in northern Kuwait after a series of meetings with Energy Minister Ahmad Fahd Al-Sabah and leading oil executives.

The panel, however, reduced the period of any contract with foreign companies from 30 years to 20 years. The project would be debated by the full parliament in October.

Opponents in the parliament argued that Kuwait's oil sector would be controlled by foreign interests. But other lawmakers said the country lost at least 12 billion US dollars by delaying the launch of development.

After the production, the northern oil project with 9 billion dollars in investment would increase daily output of the oil fields to 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) from current 500,000 bpd.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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