Kuwait Plans to Up Crude Output This Year

Kuwait plans to increase its crude production by 150,000 barrels a day by the third quarter of the year despite the current slump in oil prices, the managing director of international marketing at Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said.

Nabil Bouresli said Kuwait plans to sign new export deals with a number of European companies "with good prices and in large volumes" to support the planned hike in production.

Kuwait currently produces around 3 million barrels of oil a day, and Mr. Bouresli's comments suggest Kuwait is planning to stick to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' strategy of increasing production to maintain market share, despite calls from other members for a coordinated cut to prop up sagging crude prices.

Gulf OPEC officials have previously said that the organization's strategy is working, and they want to wait until the next scheduled OPEC meeting in June, when they will have a clearer picture of how new barrels of Iranian oil are affecting the market now that western sanctions have ended. Iran has pledged to increase production by a million barrels a day this year, potentially flooding a market that already has too much supply.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 12:25 ET (17:25 GMT)

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