Kuwait National Petro-leum Company (KNPC) said net profit for the fiscal year ended in March 2005 soared to $2.1 billion as surging oil products prices boosted refining margins.

"The company has achieved unprecedented profits of KD628 million or the equivalent of $2.1 billion," said KNPC chairman Sami Al Rasheed.
KNPC'S net for fiscal 2003-2004 was about KD 95 million ($320 million).
The state refiner is one of eight subsidiaries owned by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), which oversees the oil sector in the Gulf states.
Kuwait, which sits on about one tenth of global petroleum reserves, produces oil now at about 2.65 million barrels per day, of which at least 1.35 million bpd goes for export to world markets, and the rest to domestic refineries.
"These profits are unprecedented in the company's history," Al Rasheed said.
The sharp increase in profits was attributed to a rise in the prices of oil products and increased operational efficiency, he said.
KNPC runs the emirate's three refineries in the southern region at a combined production capacity of around 920,000 barrels per day (bpd). It also controls the domestic petrol market.
The company plans to boost its refining capacity to 1.2 million bpd by 2011 by modernising two of the three refineries and building a new refinery at a cost of over $8 billion, Al Rasheed said.
The upgrade project is estimated to cost around $3.4 billion and will be completed by the end of 2010 or early 2011.
The third refinery at Al Shuaiba with a capacity of 200,000 bpd will be closed once the project to build the new refinery is completed in early 2010, Rasheed said.
The capacity of the new refinery will range from 460,000 bpd if heavy crude is used to 600,000 bpd if medium crude is used, he said.
Kuwait plans to invest more than $40 billion in the next 15 years to modernise its oil sector which generates more than 90 per cent of public revenue.