Kuwait’s downstream oil merger nearing completion

• Will merge KNPC and KIPIC
• To cut costs and improve efficiency
• Completion ‘in next few days’

Kuwait’s merger of two state-owned oil companies is close to completion nearly two years after a landmark plan to restructure the country’s hydrocarbon sector was officially endorsed.

Intended to cut costs and improve efficiency, the merger will combine the state’s two major downstream operators Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) and Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co (KIPIC).

KIPIC manages the southern Al-Zour oil refinery, one of the world’s largest refining units with a capacity of around 615,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The refinery, one of the costliest projects of its kind in the region with investment of more than $16 billion, was fully commissioned a year ago.

Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Al-Seyassah said the final process “will be completed within the next few days”, citing informed industry sources.

Once the process is completed, KNPC will be one of the world’s largest refining entities, with a domestic refining capacity of around 1.4 million bpd, it added.

Besides Al-Zour, Kuwait has two other main oil refineries in Al-Ahmadi and Abdullah ports, with a combined output capacity of nearly 790,000 bpd. 

Further reading:

• Kuwait pushes ahead with oil sector restructuring
• Kuwait sets petrochemical target to curb oil reliance
• Kuwait’s state oil operator reports lower profit

Kuwait also has shares in overseas refineries, with production under its management of around 400,000 bpd.

The restructuring coincides with plans to expand Kuwait’s oil and gas production capacity by 50 percent and gas output to nearly 1.5 billion cubic feet per day.

Kuwait has eight main state-owned oil companies and controls nearly 101 billion barrels of recoverable crude deposits – the world’s sixth largest, according to official estimates.