MEOG: KOC signs offshore logistics deal

The state-owned Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC) this week signed a deal with Kuwait Ports Authority to lease berths at the Shuaiba Port and storage areas within the Shuaiba Industrial Area.

The three-year renewable contract covers the lease of marine berths 4 and 20 at the port as well as 40,000 square metres of storage space for the logistics operations of the company’s offshore drilling operations.

The deal was signed by KOC CEO Ahmad Jaber Al Eidan and Kuwait Ports Authority Acting Manager Jihad Al Hassawi. A statement from KOC noted that Shuaiba Port is Kuwait’s only maritime facility with the capacity and infrastructure to support offshore logistics.

In late July, KOC’s parent firm Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) said that it began drilling the country’s first offshore well – Nukhedha-1 late last year after signing a deal in mid-2019 with US firm Halliburton to drill six exploratory wells offshore. This campaign is seen adding add 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to Kuwaiti production capacity.

KOC, KPC’s domestic upstream operating arm, has been promising to start drilling offshore for many years, with separate surveys completed by Canada’s Sander Geophysics and China’s BGP during the first half of the decade.