Création d'un nouveau fil spécifique sur le gaz naturel du Koweït puisque fin avril le royaume a annoncé sont intention de produire d'ici 2030 114 millions de m3 de gaz par jour contre 4 millions actuellement.
AFP
Le Koweït, un émirat pétrolier du Golfe, entend augmenter sa production de gaz naturel à plus de 114 millions de mètres cubes par jour en 2030, a annoncé un responsable.
"C'est la première fois que nous nous fixons un objectif pour la production de gaz au Koweït", a déclaré Mohammad Hussein, vice-président de la firme publique Kuwait Oil Co (KOC), au deuxième jour de la 18e conférence du Moyen-Orient sur le pétrole et le gaz, à Koweït.
Actuellement, l'émirat, membre de l'Opep, produit 4 millions de m3 de gaz non-associé dans un gisement découvert en 2006 dans le nord du pays, ainsi que 28 millions de m3 de gaz associé.
M. Hussein a précisé que le gaz associé représenterait environ 37 millions de m3 par jour dans la production attendue en 2030, le reste étant constitué de gaz non-associé.
En mars 2006, le Koweït avait annoncé la découverte de 1.000 milliards de mètres cubes de gaz naturel, pour la première fois, dans ses gisements pétrolifères du nord. Et il avait aussitôt engagé des travaux d'exploitation de ces réserves.
En février, il avait signé un contrat de cinq ans avec Shell pour lui apporter une assistance technique dans l'exploitation de ses réserves de gaz, en butte à des difficultés.
M. Hussein a indiqué aussi que l'émirat, en manque de gaz naturel pour ses centrales électriques, ses usines de dessalement d'eau de mer et une grande raffinerie de pétrole, allait engager une politique agressive d'exploitation de gaz, mettant l'accent sur le secteur offshore.
L'émirat envisage de porter sa production de gaz non-associé à 17 millions de m3 par jour en 2013, puis à 28 millions de m3 en 2016.
Le Koweït, qui produit 2,2 millions de barils/jour de brut, a commencé début avril à importer du gaz naturel liquéfié (GNL) par méthaniers. Il compte en importer en moyenne 14,2 millions m3 par jour, et ce jusqu'à fin octobre.
Kuwait targets natural gas production of 4 Bcf/d by 2030
Dubai (Platts)--27Apr2010/1050 am EDT/1450 GMT
Kuwait Oil Company deputy chairman and deputy managing director for planning and gas Mohammad Hussain said Tuesday the country is targeting natural gas production of 4 Bcf/d by 2030, the official KUNA news agency reported.
Hussain also reiterated plans for the country to increase gas production by 2015 to 1 Bcf/d, from current levels of around 130-150 million cf/d, under a five-year enhanced technical services contract with Anglo-Dutch Shell to develop northern gas fields.
The KOC official said meeting this increase would involve challenges that include improving local technology related to natural gas, dealing with excess sulfur left as a result of exploration, providing adequate storage facilities to deal with the large quantities of gas projected and developing the local taskforce.
In 2006 KOC discovered the nation's first ever onshore commercial quantities of natural gas within deep formations of the Jurassic horizon in northern fields that were estimated at the time to hold 35 Tcf of reserves.
Consultant Schlumberger estimated that between 60 to 70% of the gas was recoverable.
Developing the northern gas fields will be a boon to Kuwait, which has had difficulty in satisfying demand for feedstock to supply local industries, to fuel electrical power stations, a growing petrochemical industry, and desalination plants.
The government has also been forced to implement nationwide rationalization programs to conserve electrical usage during summer months, which has affected some smaller industries and the petrochemical industry.
Despite ranking among the world's largest holders of proven oil reserves, the Gulf state signed an agreement with Shell in June last year to import LNG to help satisfy its domestic electrical energy needs, specifically during hot summer months when usage hits peak levels.
The country also constructed a special terminal to accommodate regasification vessels and received its first LNG cargo in August.
Sheikh Talal Khaled al-Sabah, a spokesman for KOC parent company the Kuwait Petroleum Company, has previously stated that gas from the northern fields would be used domestically to fuel the power stations and supply petrochemical and other growing industries with a clean alternative to oil products that are currently being used to supply energy.
The gas, located within the deep Marrat and Negma/Sargulu formations of the Jurassic horizon stretches throughout five northern fields of Rawdatain, Northwest Rawdatain, Sabriya, Bahra and Umm Niqa where the original gas deposit was found at well UN-001 at around 14,100 feet.
Sheikh Talal referred to the depth as one challenge, as well as high temperature and high-pressure wells that emit hydrogen sulfide (H2S). He said the gas would be developed from unconventional fractured geological formations.
On Monday, Switzerland-based trading company Vitol said it had signed an agreement with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to supply LNG to the country over the next four summers, while last month market sources in Singapore said Kuwait bought several LNG cargoes for its peak summer demand season from Shell on a short-term contract basis and was seeking more LNG supply.
Kuwait had signed preliminary deals with various neighboring countries, including Iraq, Iran and Qatar, to import natural gas, however, none ever came to fruition.
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