Kuwait and ExxonMobil deal still on track
News wires
Kuwait is still hoping to finalise a deal with US supermajor ExxonMobil on a
planned heavy oil production contract by July but has not yet concluded a
deal.
"We are still in the negotiations stage. Until now we have not
concluded (a deal)," Sami al-Rushaid, managing director of state-run
Kuwait Oil Company, told reporters on the sidelines of a company function,
according to Reuters.
"We hope to reach it by then," he replied when asked if the
contract would still be signed by July.
KOC and ExxonMobil announced last October the preliminary deal for the US
giant to help explore and produce oil from the Lower Fars oilfield in the
north of the country. They said then they hoped to reach the final deal by
July.
Any contract would have a performance-related bonus built into it, said
Rushaid.
"One of the standards included (in the contract) if we reached a deal
to be based on performance or production criteria," he said, declining
to be more specific.
Kuwait is negotiating several service deals with oil majors to help meet its
capacity expansion target. Majors prefer deals that allow them a share of
output, but Kuwait bans foreign ownership of its oil and gas reserves.
The performance-related clause in the new contracts it is negotiating aims
to keep the majors interested without the Gulf Arab state signing away
sovereign rights that would be unacceptable to its population.
Kuwait said last year it aimed to produce 50,000 bpd of heavy oil by 2011
and 250,000 bpd by 2015 as part of its plans to boost oil output to 4
million bpd by 2020.
06 May 2008 14:51 GMT
| last updated:
06 May 2008 19:33 GMT
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