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Kuwait’s oil sector is facing a cash shortage and this could impact the Gulf emirate’s hydrocarbon projects, a local newspaper said on Tuesday, citing official data.
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), which manages the OPEC producer’s hydrocarbon industry, suffered from a deficit of nearly 2.925 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($9.65 billion) at the end of fiscal year 2021-2022, which ended on March 31, the Arabic language daily Alrai said.
It quoted a KPC report as saying the deficit was caused by an “increase in the Corporation’s financial commitments to various government departments.”
“The report said the deficit was exacerbated by a decline in revenue during 2021 as result of the spread of Coronavirus pandemic.”
“Oil projects in Kuwait are facing serious challenges as a result of this financial gap, which reached in some months nearly 97.7 percent of KPC’s commitments to projects…this forced KPC to sell parts of its investments for nearly $770 million.”
The paper quoted the report as saying “KPC is now taking measures to improve its financial position” in coordination with some government departments in the next few years, adding that they include slashing a cumulative debt to the government of more than two billion dinars ($6.6 billion).
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
