New oil requires new business models

ABU DHABI , United Arab Emirates, June 2 (UPI) -- The billions of barrels of oil that remain in the ground in Kuwaiti and elsewhere suggest Arab countries need to review their business structure, officials say.

Sami al-Rushaid, the chairman of the Kuwait Oil Co., spoke of the growing challenges in the energy market at the World National Oil Companies Congress in Abu Dhabi, the Platts news service reports.

"We need to find ways to replace depleted reserves, but the challenge bar keeps rising higher," he said.

He said improved extraction technology could improve recovery rates by more than 30 percent, but the billions of barrels of unrecoverable oil may require new business strategies among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Rushaid said the regional market domination of state-run oil companies may need to move toward embracing international partners in order to meet market requirements.

For its part, Kuwait produces around 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day, and Rushaid left the door open for joint development of those reserves with multinational partners.