Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) signed a $624.6 million deal with South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction  to build an oil and gas gathering centre in the state’s northern Sabriya field.

The centre would have the capacity to handle 165,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 240 million cubic feet of gas per day, the Kuwait news agency reported.
The construction of the plant, which would take three and a half years, would help plans to increase Kuwait’s oil output capacity to 4 million bpd by 2020, the agency quoted KOC managing director Farouk Al Zanki as saying.
Kuwait has said it plans to increase its output capacity to 3 million bpd by 2010 and 4 million by 2020. Kuwait controls nearly one-tenth of global oil reserves.
The deal was signed in Kuwait with SK Engineering, an affiliate of SK Chemical which also owns a stake in SK Corp.
Kuna also reported that  Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC) is considering different options for reintroducing the tender for a planned 615,000 barrels per day Al Zour refinery and will decide in May.
The options under consideration include reintroducing the tender on a cost-plus basis that would include a profit margin, Kuna quoted KNPC's chairman Sami Al Rushaid as saying.
It will decide in May after approval from the board of directors, the Kuwaiti energy ministry Web site said.