Kuwait Oil Company said on Monday it made its third offshore discovery with production capacity of more than 29 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, in a boost to the power-squeezed, desert nation's efforts to ramp up output.
The Jazza field, which spans 40 square km (15.44 square miles), is estimated to hold around 1 trillion cubic feet of gas and over 120 million barrels of condensates, equivalent to roughly 350 million barrels of oil equivalent, KOC said in a statement.
It is characterised by a low carbon dioxide content and is free of hydrogen sulfide and associated water, KOC added.
Kuwait, an OPEC member and major oil producer, has increased imports of natural gas to meet surging domestic power demand, particularly in the summer when air conditioning use peaks.
State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, KOC's parent company, also plans to boost domestic gas output and reach stable free gas production of two billion standard cubic feet per day by 2040.
The discovery is the third in Kuwait's offshore area, where the country began exploration as part of its investment strategy to meet future oil demand, after receiving its first offshore drilling rig in mid-2022.
Two previous offshore finds were primarily oil.
Its first offshore find - the Noukhadha field - in 2024, contains about 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
In January this year, KOC announced its second offshore discovery at the Julaiah field, holding 800 million barrels of crude and 600 billion cubic feet of associated gas.
Kuwait's oil minister along with the CEOs of KPC and KOC briefed the Emir of Kuwait on the latest discovery on Monday.
In a sign of Kuwait's energy strains, a heatwave in April drove demand beyond generating capacity, which had been curtailed by power plant maintenance, forcing the government to temporarily cut electricity to some industrial and agricultural areas.
(Reuters)