Kuwait finds ‘encouraging’ reserves of natural gas

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait announced Monday it had discovered natural gas for the first time, in commercial quantities, as well as a new light oil.

“We have found … for the first time in Kuwait very encouraging quantities of gas,” Energy Minister Sheik Ahmed Fahd al-Ahmed al-Sabah said.

He said the fields of Umm Niqa, Sabriyah and Northwest Rawdatain contain some 35 trillion cubic feet of gas, and studies have proven that 60 to 70 percent of it is recoverable.

Kuwait is rich in oil but poor in natural gas. It started exploring for it in 1978, but has only struck commercial quantities of “excellent quality” this year.

“Initial estimates suggest we can cover Kuwait’s gas needs, especially for generating electrical power and use in petrochemical industries,” Khaled al-Sumaiti, deputy CEO of the state-owned Kuwait Oil Co., said.

Kuwait now uses mostly crude to generate power. The use of free gas is more environmentally friendly.

The small Gulf state had plans to import gas from Iran, Qatar and Iraq. Sheik Ahmed said Kuwait will most probably go ahead with one of them because of the “dire need” for that resource.

Sheik Ahmed also told reporters that some 10 billion to 13 billion barrels of light crude have been discovered in the Bahra and Rawdatain fields.

Kuwait produces mostly heavy oil which is more difficult to refine. The minister said the light oil discovery will add 10 percent to the country’s oil reserves, which he estimated at around 90 billion barrels.

The state-owned Kuwait Oil Co. said in a statement that the initial phases of actual natural gas production will commence by the end of 2007, after completion of the necessary surface facilities.

Kuwait’s economy is almost solely based on oil revenues.