Kuwait plans to increase diesel exports to Europe as much as 5 times this year compared to last year, which will help the continent offset a decline in supplies from Russia, Bloomberg said, citing a source. Kuwait is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and, despite its small territory, has the sixth largest oil reserves in the world.
“The Middle Eastern country (Kuwait) plans to increase its diesel supply to Europe in 2023 to 2.5 million tonnes, or about 50,000 barrels per day. It also wants to double its aviation fuel sales in Europe to nearly 5 million tons,” the agency wrote.
Bloomberg adds that, according to the source, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC) aviation fuel (kerosene) supply plans exclude any sales on the spot market, which in turn means that its total supply to Europe could exceed 5 million tons.
In addition, the first of three parts of the Al Zour refinery is already processing more than 205,000 barrels of oil per day, sources familiar with the matter said. The second part of the refinery should start operating by mid-February and the third by April.
Therefore, Kuwait’s total oil refining capacity will increase to approximately 1.5 million barrels per day once the Al Zour refinery is fully operational.
Diesel prices could rise as much as $200 a barrel this quarter on a Western ban on imports of oil from Russia and, from Feb. 5, petroleum products, which could trigger global shortages, according to data from the Bank of America, cited by the agency.
And according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co., at the end of last year, the EU bought nearly 1.3 million barrels of oil products a day from Russia. About half of this volume was made up of diesel.
