- Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Boosts Stake in Wal-Mart
- Time Warner to Spin Off AOL on December 9
- Gates Boosts Waste Management, Coca Cola Stakes
- What's Kept Stock Rally Going? Fear, Not Confidence
- Fed to Keep Rates Low Despite Dollar's Fall: Bernanke
- Citi Shares, A Strange Indicator Of Unemployment?
- Millions Could Have to Repay Part of Obama's Tax Credit
- Hollywood Turns to Porn as Unemployment Rises
- Slideshow: US Cities With Most Underwater Mortgages
- Answers to Your Questions: A Path to Economic Disaster?
- 5 Ways to Play the Chinese Markets: Analyst
- Meredith Whitney: Turns Bearish
- 3 Stock Plays on Rising College Costs
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Almost Doubles Wal-Mart Holdings During Summer
- Nov. 16: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Getting to the Heart of the Merck-Abbott Embargo Break
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
- My Ratings on Lowe's & Home Depot: Analyst
MOST SHARED
- Stocks Overvalued, Recession Will Return: Meredith Whitney
- Has Twitter's Finest Hours (Seconds) Come and Gone?
- BofA Ex-Counsel: I Was 'Stunned' When I Got Fired
- U.S. May Wind Up Green With Envy
- CNBC Video: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates - Keeping American Great
- Solar Emerges From A Dark Period
- Stanford Receiver to Release Funds Of Frozen Acounts
- Snoop Dogg Talks Biz
- Millions May Have to Repay Part of Obama Tax Credit
- Oil Tomorrow
Text Size 
Kuwait, one of the few OPEC members with spare capacity, will increase its oil output by 300,000 barrels per day starting mid-2009, state news agency KUNA reported, citing Oil Minister Mohammad al-Olaim.
 |
"The minister affirmed ... that Kuwait is capable of increasing its oil output (currently) but wondered if the market needed that increase," KUNA reported.
OPEC officials have repeatedly blamed factors beyond their control for the high price of oil, which has more than doubled in a year to nearly $140 a barrel.
Olaim has said speculation, refining capacity strain and the weakness of the U.S. dollar were behind the high price, not any lack of supply.
"Olaim announced that Kuwait will increase its oil production in the middle of next year by 300,000 bpd, disclosing that it will spend $55 billion on oil projects in the coming five years," KUNA reported.
Kuwait produced 2.58 million barrels per day in May, according to a Reuters survey, compared with 2.59 million in April.
Like fellow members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Kuwait decides its production volume alongside other producers in the oil group. Most OPEC countries have no spare output capacity.
The agency did not say whether the investment would be allocated for production capacity expansion or other projects.
The world's seventh-largest oil exporter, which sits on a tenth of global crude reserves, plans to boost output to 4 million bpd by 2020.
Kuwait says it plans a multi-billion dollar scheme to produce more oil from some northern oil fields under a plan it calls "Project Kuwait" which has been delayed for years as some deputies oppose the involvement of foreign firms in production.
Olaim said on Sunday his country would not hesitate to pump more oil if the market needed it but said it was too early to talk of any increase. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has said it will raise its output by 200,000 bpd in July to 9.7 million bpd.
Print
Email
- Where, what, how.
- CNBC's Jim Goldman asks: Has the sun begun to set on Twitter? Data suggests its best days are over.
- Everyone wanted a piece of Madoff's "Bullship"--the famous buoy sold for $7,500 at auction. You won't believe these prices.
- De Loach Vineyards is selling its pinot noir the old fashioned way, helping to cut energy and transportation costs.
- Why are the Chinese concerned about the progress of U.S. health care legislation?
- CNBC's Maria Bartiromo talks to rapper Snoop Dogg about brand identity in both business and music.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes