Kuwait Working On Contingency Plans For Hormuz Blockade

Kuwait is looking at contingency plans in case the Strait of Hormuz was blocked, the head of the country's state oil company said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on the side of a Chatham House energy conference, Farouq al-Zanki, chief executive of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., said: "We are looking at short-term solutions in case" the closure happens.

"But we haven't yet decided," he said.

Iran has threatened in recent weeks to close the key oil route, through which transits one-third of the world's seaborne exports.

Earlier, an official from an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries member state said that if the Strait is closed " Qatar and Kuwait will be worst affected because [they] have no other way.

"I don't think it will happen but we have to be ready for it," he said.

The official also said Kuwait plans to increase its production capacity to 4 million barrels a day in 2030, from 3.1 million barrels a day currently, thanks to the development of heavy oil resources and the use of enhanced recovery techniques.

Asked separately about a joint-venture deal between Kuwait and Total SA (TOT) in an oil refining and petrochemical project in China , the KPC CEO said "we are in the process of signing but we haven't decided when to sign."

Kuwait-based Al Anba daily reported last week that the Gulf nation has given its initial approval for the entry of Total as partner in the joint venture.