KUWAIT — A jointly operated onshore oilfield between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will shut for two weeks of maintenance, a Kuwaiti industry source said on Monday. The scheduled closure of the Wafra onshore oilfield, operated by a Saudi Arabian division of US oil major Chevron, will start on Monday night or Tuesday, the source told Reuters. The source declined to be named because of the commercial sensitivity of the matter.
"It is planned maintenance starting from tonight or tomorrow," the source said, adding that production from the onshore fields in the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was about 190,000 barrels per day. The Neutral Zone is the only place in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where foreign oil firms have equity in fields, which are otherwise owned and operated by state oil companies. Crude output is divided equally between the two countries.
The shutdown of Wafra, which has an output capacity of about 220,000 bpd of Arabian Heavy crude, comes after the oil output from another jointly operated field, Khafji, was stopped in October to comply with environmental regulations.
Saudi Arabia crude output capacity is currently at 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd). In March, Saudi pumped 10.29 million bpd. — Reuters
