Travel restrictions increase pressure on electricity

KUWAIT CITY, June 10: The Argos website has reported that Kuwait may have to increase the burning of crude oil in power plants this summer in order to meet the high demand for electricity, which has reached a record level due to the rising temperatures in the country, reports Al-Rai daily. The website explained that, due to the travel restrictions imposed by the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many citizens and residents will not be able to travel this summer to escape the hot weather. This makes the pressure on electricity in Kuwait continue. The demand for electricity at the peak exceeded 15.07 gigawatts, which is a new record after the temperature rose above 50 degrees Celsius, according to the Ministry of Electricity and Water.

The load rose to the peak by about 16.8 percent compared to the same time last year, and is likely to continue to rise over the next few days. The website highlighted that Kuwait usually relies on a large extent on associated gas for power generation. In the summer, it uses imported liquefied natural gas in a floating storage and regasification unit, but when the demand for electricity rose last year, the decrease in associated gas production, because of a restriction in production based on an agreement of OPEC-Plus, led to Kuwait burning record quantities of crude oil to generate electricity, the peak load of which reached 14.96 gigawatts in July 2020. This prompted Kuwait to burn about 184,000 barrels per day, or nearly ten times the amount used for energy in 2019.