OPEC member Kuwait may delay some planned investments in the oil sector in light of the sharp drop in crude prices but will keep the main plans intact, Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Olaim said on Monday. “We are in the process of assessing our (long-term) plan ... there could be some rescheduling of certain projects ... but we will keep the (main) goals,” the minister told a press conference. Kuwait said at the start of the year that it had earmarked 55 billion dollars for investment over the next five years in the energy sector, including raising production capacity and building a new refinery. “The five-year plan for the (Kuwait Petroleum) Corporation is flexible but there will be no change to essential projects,” the minister said. “Our plan for output capacity increases is still valid.” Based on the plan, the Gulf state aims to raise its crude output capacity to four million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020 from 2.7 million bpd currently. The plan is behind schedule as capacity should have been raised to three million bpd in 2008 and to 3.5 million bpd in 2010. Benchmark international crude oil prices were between 40 and 45 dollars a barrel on Friday, less than a third of their peaks above 147 dollars reached in July. The emirate said last month it was reconsidering the country's five-year national plan, in order to cut spending due to the sharp fall in the price of oil, which contributes 95 percent of public revenues. The plan initially envisaged spending $130 billion on infrastructure projects over the next five years, starting next year. Kuwait posted an income of 1.254 billion dinars ($4.56 billion) in November, the country's lowest monthly earnings in its 2008/09 fiscal year, on lower-than-expected oil prices, official data showed on Sunday. Revenue in the world's seventh-largest oil exporter was 1.95 billion dinars in October and 1.69 billion dinars in September, the government data showed. In calculating the budget, Kuwait has assumed its crude, the country's main revenue earner, would fetch $50 a barrel over the year to March 31. But Kuwaiti crude plunged to $35.62 on Friday, after peaking at $135 in July, according to state news agency KUNA, amid a gloomy global economic outlook. Despite that, Kuwait posted a budget surplus of 8.06 billion dinars in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Revenue stood at 17.73 billion dinars in the eight months to Nov. 30, while expenditure was 7.9 billion dinars, the data showed. Based on the initial budget forecast total revenue is expected to amount to 12.68 billion dinars for the whole year including 11.65 billion dinars from oil exports. Kuwait had initially forecast a full-year deficit of 7.55 billion dinars. Researchers at National Bank of Kuwait said earlier this month the Gulf Arab state is expected to post a surplus of 1.8 billion dinars this year, reflecting record oil prices during the first months of the fiscal year. Kuwait posted a surplus of 9.32 billion dinars in 2007/08. Meanwhile, the vice chairman of Al-Kharafi Group said the Kuwaiti conglomerate is planning $3 billion in new investments in Egypt next year. Ibrahim Saleh told a conference in Cairo on Monday that the new investments were targeted at both the tourism and industrial sectors. Kharafi, a Kuwaiti company with diverse holdings, including oil and gas, fertilizers, hotels and tourism and construction, is known in Egypt for its development of the southern Red Sea resort area of Marsa Alam. Egyptian officials have said they are counting on continued investments from the Gulf Arab region to help the country weather the global economic crisis.
