KUWAIT CITY, July 17 (UPI) -- The discovery of a new oil field in western Kuwait should help push production to 4 million barrels per day by the end of the decade, Kuwait Oil Co. said.
Kuwait is among the top 10 oil producers and holds the sixth-largest oil reserves in the world. Kuwait Oil Co. Director Hashim Hashim told the Kuwait News Agency the company made a new oil discovery in the western part of the country said to hold commercial levels of oil and natural gas.
He said a final production estimate was forthcoming but it would add to overall production goals for the country.
Kuwait, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, aims to diversify an economy depending on oil revenue by exploiting natural gas reserves. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates Kuwait holds 63 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
In terms of production, Kuwait in 2012 produced 2.8 million barrels of oil per day. Hashim said Tuesday the latest discovery would help stimulate a national plan of producing 4 million bpd by 2020.
