Kuwait's refining capacity will rise to 1.2 million barrels per day after completion of a new refinery and upgrade of other plants in projects set to cost billions of dollars, state refiner KNPC says.

Sami Al Rasheed, chairman of Kuwait National Petroleum Company, said that upgrade works and the new refinery -- which might cost up to $5 billion -- is set to be completed by 2010. Kuwait's current refining capacity is about 930,000 bpd.
'We expect the total refining capacity after the fourth (new) refinery and the upgrade works will reach about 1.2 million bpd by about 2010,' Al Rasheed said.
'At this stage we expect the cost to be around $4 billion to $5 billion,' he said. Officials have previously put the cost of the new refinery at just over $3 billion.
He said upgrade works will carried out on several units at Kuwait's two largest refineries -- Mina al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah. Initial cost estimates are about KD1 billion ($3.4 billion).
The bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading 'aims to produce high quality refined petroleum products that are suitable for the markets and that are in line with global product specifications,' Al Rasheed added.
The new refinery will be designed to have a crude processing capacity of between 450,000 bpd and 600,000 bpd, but its capacity largely will be dictated by the crude slate.
Capacity will reach 600,000 bpd if we are refining Kuwait Export Crude, but if heavier crudes are refined, the capacity will be about 450,000 bpd or 460,000 bpd.
He said the project was still in the pre-qualification stage but added that international companies were likely will be invited to bid for the building of the complex around February 2006. The tender process was likely to take up nine months.
KNPC has earlier said that work on the new refinery would begin in 2007. The ecologically-friendly plant will produce cleaner fuels for Kuwait's power generation plants.
The plant -- which will also produce kerosene and diesel -- is expected to start operations at the same time as the ageing 200,000-bpd Shuaiba refinery will be shut down.
Al Rasheed said subscriptions will open to the public in October in the shares of a second company to take over local marketing of petroleum products from KNPC, continuing a partial privatisation drive in the downstream sector started last year.
KNPC still handles the bulk of sales of refined petroleum products like gasoline at some 120 gas stations throughout the state. But under this gradual privatisation, the new company, and another one established last year, will take control of some 40 of Kuwait's existing gas stations each.