Shaikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah

KPC optimizes the value of Kuwait’s hydrocarbons endowment by producing, refining, transporting, and marketing these resources globally through eight operating subsidiaries.

How has the energy crisis impacted your operations and financial results?

Our norms and operating philosophy remain sound. And in view of the challenges, we have implemented a number of measures to sustain our market position and ensure the highest financial returns. These measures include optimizing expenditures and reprioritizing our capital and exploration programs, securing supply-contracts, and leveraging our strong relationship with longtime clients, and focusing on refining and petrochemical products of higher value and returns.

In 2022, KPC announced an increase in crude oil production in line with an OPEC+ agreement to meet the demands of the global market. With KPC’s crucial role in oil production, what is the group’s strategy?

To meet our supply commitment to the global market, KPC has long and short-term plans to increase its crude production capacity. For the short term, we are working to fast-track our drilling and workover programs, as well as expedite the completion and commissioning of our production and water handling facilities. With our current progress, we are confident of meeting our quota and supply commitments. With respect to KPC’s long-term targets, we are pursuing strategic programs to increase and sustain crude oil production capacity at 4 million bpd in 2040, and 2 billion cbf of non-associated gas.

Kuwait Vision 2035 and ESG initiatives are aimed at transforming the economy of Kuwait into a more diversified and sustainable market. In what ways can KPC and other national companies positively impact these efforts?

Our role is instrumental in supporting the Kuwait Vision 2035 in terms of global positioning, developing infrastructure, providing access to cleaner energy, maintaining creative human capital, and leading a sustainable and diversified economy. It is our duty to fuel the growth of our economy. In this regard, we are constantly mobilizing our strengths and resources to create employment opportunities for our national workforce, expanding the contribution and participation of the local private sector in the oil sector, and initiating attractive investment and partnership opportunities for foreign investors to partner in the petrochemical and downstream industries, oil and gas field services, and various R&T opportunities that will help transfer technology and knowledge. In addition, our 2050 Net Zero strategy demonstrates our commitment to reducing GHG emissions and creating a sustainable living environment. We recently commissioned three world-scale refineries producing greener products conforming to Euro-5 specifications and low-sulfur fuel oils. Our strategy draws a roadmap for future energy businesses and growth opportunities such as carbon capture and storage, sustainable green hydrogen, biofuels, and petrochemical recycling, among others.

With digital transformation becoming an important aspect of improved efficiency and automated operations, the oil and gas sector is increasingly implementing new technological solutions. What is the corporation’s approach?

We recognize the importance of digital transformation and its role in improving organizational performance. Digitalization is being embedded into day-to-day operations to achieve operational efficiencies and optimize return on assets. It is a tool for re-inventing traditional operating models to unlock more and new sources of revenue, as well as supporting improved decision-making. In this regard, we have developed a digital transformation strategy to digitalize the hydrocarbon value chain from core to customer.

A strong and stable oil and gas sector will play an essential role in ensuring steady growth for the country. Considering the near future, what are the corporation’s plans and expectations for the coming year?

We will continue our efforts to make the best use of our hydrocarbon resources through ramping up our sustainable production capacity, timely completing and commissioning our main capital programs, pursuing renewable and alternative energy opportunities where they add value to our business, and developing our national workforce to enable them to manage the future of the Kuwaiti oil sector.