LOC17:25
14:25 GMT
KUWAIT, Jan 21 (KUNA) - Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) offshore exploration and drilling is one of the vital pathways to enhancing Kuwait's production capacity and ensuring the sustainability of its hydrocarbon resources, said Director of Public Relations and Petroleum Media at the Ministry of Oil, Sheikha Tamadher Khaled Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
In a speech during a specialized seminar organized by the Ministry of Oil under the title (Jazza-1 Offshore Field), Sheikha Tamadher said organizing the session reflects the Ministry's keenness to shed light on strategic national projects in the oil sector.
She also noted that the Ministry of Oil places special importance on highlighting the pivotal role of national cadres across all stages of the project, from geological studies to technical operations and future development.
Highlighting national achievements in major exploration projects, including offshore drilling, falls within the Ministry's responsibility to document efforts exerted and showcase accomplishments achieved by national hands, she added.
She affirmed that the project goes beyond its exploratory dimension, carrying strategic implications related to developing Kuwaiti expertise and enhancing institutional readiness for the future of the energy industry in Kuwait.
In turn, KOC representatives, Senior Geologist Iman Al-Shehri and Senior Petroleum Engineer Abdulmohsen Al-Janaei, highlighted the history of offshore exploratory assessment in Kuwait.
They noted that offshore exploration dates back to 1961, although the actual focus on offshore drilling began in 2014 when the company conducted a two-dimensional offshore seismic survey.
In 2018, geological reservoir studies were completed, and optimal drilling locations were identified, while the offshore exploration drilling project in Kuwait's offshore area commenced in 2022 with the drilling of the (Nokhatha-1) well using the (Oriental Phoenix) offshore drilling rig on August 8, 2022, they added.
The representatives stated that Kuwait's offshore area covers approximately 6,000 square kilometers, noting that seven offshore exploratory wells were drilled during the 1960s and 1980s, targeting Cretaceous formations without achieving commercial discoveries at the time.
Regarding offshore oil discoveries, they said the Nokhatha offshore field, discovered in July 2024 and located east of Failaka Island, represents Kuwait's first major offshore discovery, with estimated reserves of about 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, marking a qualitative shift in the country's offshore exploration journey.
The second discovery was the Julaia offshore field, announced in January 2025, with reserves estimated at 800 million barrels of medium crude oil and 600 billion cubic feet of gas, they added.
They pointed out that the discovery of the Jazza offshore field, Kuwait's third purely offshore field, involved the finding of large commercial quantities of hydrocarbon resources within Kuwait's territorial waters, covering an estimated area of about 40 square kilometers based on initial data. (end)
km.aa