Hani Abdulaziz Hussein, the former head of Kuwait’s national oil company KPC, is Kuwait’s new oil minister, effective today.
According to a report by the official KUNA news agency, Hussein has been appointed as the new oil minister under Amiri decree by Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
His predecessor, Mohammad al-Busairy, oversaw Kuwait’s production increase from 2.1 million barrels per day to 3 million barrels per day last year. Al-Busairy was appointed in May 2011.
Hussein was instrumental in progressing national oil production target of four million barrels per day, and pushed for greater private sector involvement in Kuwaits upstream sector while at KPC.
A new cabinet has been appointed following the recent election in Kuwait. The increasing popularity of Islamist opposition will put pressure on the new cabinet to deliver on reforms in the gulf state, without the arguments for which Kuwaiti parliamentarians are famous. Kuwait has seen seven cabinets come and go over the last five years.
The state has ample reserves, but spending on its oil sector has been hampered by poltiical problems. The country also has a poor record of attracting foreign investment, seeing just $1.5 billion enter in 2011, according to a Reuters report. The previous parliament quashed a $15 billion, 615,000 barrel a day refinery upgrade at al-Zour, a contract previously awarded to Fluor and a host of South korean contractors.
