The Gulf Oil Company has approved an additional 1.5 billion dinars increase to the approved budget for the year 2023 to be spent on drilling and exploration operations to support production and develop the Durra field and Al-Khafji projects.
Informed sources told Al-Qabas daily that the initial budget was estimated at 180 million dinars to be raised to 1.5 billion dinars without the company’s management having the required financial powers to approve it, pointing out that approving the huge additional budget requires obtaining the approvals of the board of directors of the Gulf Oil Company and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation in addition to the board Supreme Petroleum prior to committing to the partner with additional budgets.
The sources indicated that the company’s approval of the additional budget authorizes the start of disbursement operations and commitment with contractors in Al-Khafji operations to implement projects, explaining that approving it in this way and without obtaining the required approvals raises many doubts and may result in an administrative impasse and financial and technical obligations with the partner.
The sources demanded the need to work to correct this error and avoid this unprecedented incident that may affect the company’s obligations with the partner, especially since KPC suffers from scarcity of liquidity, calling on the regulatory authorities to inquire about these approvals.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had agreed to develop the Durra field using option “1A” among the 10 options that were available for developing the field, at an initial estimated cost of $2.72 billion, as the option agreed upon between the two partners achieves the required gas specifications for the safety of gas transmission pipelines, as well as ensuring the accuracy of the division of shares between the two sides.
The development of the field is expected to produce one billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day, in addition to producing 84,000 barrels of condensate per day. Production will be divided equally between the two partners. The development of this strategic field will contribute to meeting the growth of domestic demand for natural gas and its liquids in both countries
