Kuwait
Thursday opened a new gathering center at its Sabriya oilfield as part of the
Gulf state's drive to boost its oil output to 4 million barrels a day by 2020.
Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah inaugurated the center at
Kuwait
's
third-largest oilfield near the country's northern border with
Iraq
.
The facility, built by South Korean SK Engineering and Construction Co. at a
cost of $626.7 million, can handle 165,000 barrels of crude oil a day and 85
million cubic feet of gas.
"The center is one of the facilities contributing toward the 2020
strategy," said Sami al-Rasheed, the chairman of Kuwait Oil Co., the
state-owned company responsible for production.
Gathering centers perform the physical separation of crude, natural gas, water
and other impurities before pumping clean oil for either export or to
refineries, and gas to power stations.
SK president Kwang-Chul Choi said the project was completed six months ahead of
schedule and went online a month ago. It had been slated to be completed in
September.
The original center, about 50 kilometers from the border with
Iraq
, was
damaged during the 1990 invasion of
Kuwait
by
Saddam Hussein's forces.
Ahmad said the center and a number of other projects are part of Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries member
Kuwait
's
long-term strategy to raise production capacity to 4 million barrels a day.
"At present, we are capable of producing 3 million barrels a day,"
the minister told reporters after the opening ceremony, but declined to say if
this was sustainable over long periods.
Kuwait
,
OPEC's fourth-largest exporter, says it sits on 10% of global crude oil
reserves. It has
been pumping around 2.2 million barrels a day.