Kuwait signed four year liquefied natural gas supply contracts with Royal Dutch Shell and Vitol Group as the Arabian Gulf state seeks fuel to run power generators during the summer months, an official said.
The companies will supply between three and five cargoes a month in total starting in April through October, Abdullatif Al Houti, KPC’s managing director for international marketing, said at a conference in Kuwait today.
Shell will ship a minimum of two lots a month with an option for a third, and Vitol a minimum of one with an option for a second, he said.
Al Houti, speaking on the sidelines of The Conference Connection’s Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference, didn’t disclose the price for the shipments, saying the cost would be based on a formula linked to crude oil.
Vitol announced it had signed the contract with Kuwait in an emailed statement yesterday. David Wells, Shell’s vice president for international LNG supply, said today the company had signed a term contract with Kuwait.
Kuwait began receiving LNG imports this month and will take delivery of 500 million cubic feet a day between April and the end of October to fire its power stations, Saad al Shuwaib, chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum, said on April 22.
RWE AG’s unit Excelerate Energy is providing a vessel to convert the liquid fuel back into gas and supplied the first two cargoes, Al Houti said.
Kuwait and other Middle Eastern oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi are seeking to expand gas production to meet demand for power generation and industrial expansion. (Bloomberg)
