Kuwaiti Oil Minister leaves Seoul after energy talks

Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Mustafa Al-Shimali left Seoul to return home on Friday after participating in a ministerial meeting of Asia's major oil producing and consuming countries. In his speech at the Fifth Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable Meeting on Thursday, Al-Shimali reaffirmed Kuwait's oil investment and expansion projects aimed at reaching its production target at 4 million barrels per day by 2020, a move that would help ensure stable crude supply to Asia, which accounts for 40 percent of global energy demand. The minister also said Kuwait plans to develop non-associated gas to reach ultimately 2 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2020. Currently, the countrys non-associated gas production averages 140 million standard cubic feet per day, according to the minister. In addition, Kuwait is proceeding with integrated downstream projects in Vietnam and China, while evaluating a few others. During the one-day meeting, energy leaders from 21 countries in Asia and the Middle East called for continued producer-consumer dialogue on both regional and global levels. Top issues in the forum included energy demand and supply outlooks in Asia, strategic petroleum reserve and enhanced cooperation in the Asian oil trade market. They also aim to achieve oil supply stability within the Asian region by seeking measures to develop and expand the current domestic response system to oil price and supply instability into a bilateral multilateral joint stockpiling system and production management by producers. As for gas contract pricing mechanism, the ministers acknowledged the importance of enhancing the dialogue concerning domestic natural gas policies in Asia and of discussing mutually beneficial pricing strategies that promote energy security for both producing and consuming countries. While in Seoul, Al-Shimali was engaged in a series of bilateral talks with Kazakh, South Korean, Indian and Chinese energy ministers on cooperation and new potential, including refinery, petrochemical and storage projects. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) prior to his departure, Al-Shimali expressed satisfaction over the outcome of the biennial forum and bilateral meetings. "The talks benefit both energy producers and consumers as they provide us opportunities to explore possibility of new energy cooperation, which could be beyond petroleum trade," he said. Seeing Al-Shimali off at the airport was Charge d'affaires at the Kuwaiti Embassy in South Korea Abdulrahman Al-Shehab and other diplomats.