‘Global standoff to hike oil price’

25/10/2025

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25: Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Environment Tariq Al-Roumi stated that any decision to wage war or impose a boycott would affect oil prices, predicting an increase in prices due to US sanctions on Russian oil companies. Speaking on the sidelines of the 27th meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Environmental Affairs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Al- Roumi said that consumer countries impacted by the sanctions are expected to turn to oil-producing nations in the Gulf and the Middle East to make up for the shortage of Russian oil. He affirmed OPEC’s readiness to compensate for any supply deficit in the global market. Al-Roumi stated that oil prices are determined by supply and demand, noting that current conditions do not indicate a clear positive or negative impact on oil demand.

He indicated that OPEC continues to pump and increase production into the market, with prices remaining within acceptable limits, although they have risen by about two dollars in recent days. In response to a question about the possibility of global demand shifting toward the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East under current circumstances, particularly as Asian countries such as China and India, which import oil from Russia, may redirect part of their imports, Al-Roumi said he expects such a shift to occur. He added that any decision regarding production levels would be based on OPEC’s studies and available data, whether to restore production to previous levels or maintain current output. Al-Roumi emphasized that OPEC’s response will continue to be guided by oil market indicators and the balance of supply and demand. Meanwhile, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is preparing to complete its exploration strategy following the recent offshore discoveries of Rakhwa, Nokhatha 2, and Jazza 2.

According to oil sources, KOC has achieved a 100 percent success rate in its exploration efforts in the three fields, adding that the global success rate typically ranges between 20 percent and 60 percent, rarely reaching 80 percent. By using advanced digital technology and high-tech drilling rigs, the company achieved this 100 percent success, thanks to the efforts of its national workforce and highly experienced management, with support from the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). The sources expressed hope that KOC will achieve exploratory success in the three remaining fields within the first phase. They also suggested that KOC’s efforts could potentially result in a 100 percent drilling success rate in the second phase, which includes 18 wells. The sources explained that KOC broke a record in the history of global offshore exploration by discovering three fields within 15 months, including the first discovery of the Nukhidha 1 field in mid-July 2024. Kuwait’s offshore exploration history has gone through three phases. The first phase began in 1961 with Shell International, which conducted a two-dimensional seismic survey covering 6,000 kilometers of offshore territory.

During this phase, several wells were drilled, but the results were disappointing, as hydrocarbons were not found in the expected quantities. KOC launched the second phase of offshore exploration in 1981, carrying out a two-dimensional seismic survey that covered the entire offshore area, extending 6,000 meters in length. However, the desired results were not achieved. The situation remained largely unchanged for several years until KOC initiated the third phase in 2012, and conducted seismic surveys across an offshore area spanning 6,000 kilometers. Drilling operations for the third phase began in 2019 but were delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. However, as the world began recovering from the pandemic, KPC invested billions of dollars in mid- 2022 to carry out offshore exploration. Offshore operations are significantly more labor-intensive and costly than onshore exploration, up to five times higher. The sources added that Kuwait aims to use these explorations to achieve oil production of 4 million barrels per day by 2035 and maintain this level through 2040.

By Inaas Awad/Najeh Bilal Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff