Kuwait's KOC, Exxon sign heavy oil production deal

Kuwait said it had reached a preliminary deal with Exxon Mobil Corp to produce heavy oil in the north of the Gulf Arab state and aimed to boost production to 900,000 barrels per day by 2020.

State owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) said it wanted to reach a final deal with the U.S. company to explore the Lower Fars oil field near the Iraqi border by July 2008 but negotiations were still ongoing. Exxon Mobil said the deal would produce 700,000 barrels per day from the field, while KOC, which is in charge of oil exploration in the world's seventh-largest oil producer, added that it also wanted to explore other fields to reach its long-term target. Kuwait has been planning a multi-billion project to explore its northern oil fields for more than a decade but it has never made beyond committee level at parliament as some Islamist deputies oppose the involvement of foreign firms.

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