Energy

A founding member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Kuwait and other members together hold over 80% of the world’s proven oil reserves, of which Kuwait has 101.5bn barrels, or 6%. After the Second World War its role in newly global energy markets gradually increased, with production growing to 1m by 1955. Following independence in 1961, the country spent two decades bringing its energy resources under the government’s purview by acquiring shares in oil operations. In 1980 the authorities founded Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) to bring all state-owned oil operations under a single organisation. In the resulting structure, KPC manages the sector through its subsidiaries, which handle upstream, downstream, transport and petrochemicals operations. The Supreme Petroleum Council meanwhile is charged with overseeing all oil-related decisions, and the council includes the ministers of finance, oil, foreign affairs, and commerce and industry, as well as the state minister for Cabinet affairs.

This chapter contains interviews with Mohammad Ghazi Al Mutairi, CEO, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC); and Jamal Jaafar, CEO, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).