KUWAIT, Aug 22 (KUNA) -- Kuwait is expected to have an agreement with Iraq on the import of Iraqi gas and joint oil fields before the end of this year, Kuwaiti Oil Minister and Minister of Electricity and Water Engineer Bakheet Al-Rashidi said Wednesday.
"We are in the process of selecting a global consultant to study the joint fields project," Al-Rashidi told reporters during his inspection tour on Wednesday of the Eastern Doha power plant.
He stressed that "matters with brothers in Saudi Arabia are going at a steady pace and we expect the return of production in the divided region soon".

On the other hand, Al-Rashidi confirmed success of the Ministry of Electricity in overcoming the summer loads which did not exceed 14,000 megawatts.
He added that the ministry had expected the production to exceed the 14,000 megawatt barrier, pointing to the presence of about 2,000 megawatts between the highest consumption and production of the ministry's units.
On Kuwait's directive to complete the electricity linkage with Iraq, he said, officials in the Linkage Authority in the GCC countries are negotiating with the Iraqi side on a continuous basis and "we expect that these negotiations will ultimately lead to linking Iraq's electricity grid with the Gulf network and then link with Turkey and Europe on the long-term." "We are always ready to help our brothers in Iraq, according to the instructions of the political leadership", he confirmed.
Regarding news reports published by a local daily about possible loss to be incurred by Al-Zour Refinery due to lack of coordination between the Ministry of Electricity and Water and the Ministry of Oil on the operation of power plants, the minister said this is not true at all, however, resorting to gas is in favor of the Ministry of Electricity and Water and in favor of the refinery as well, because resorting to gas by the ministry instead of fuel will be followed by the modernization or addition of new conversion units for Al-Zour refinery and these units will be very profitable compared to the production of heavy fuel.
He pointed to the existence of a project to raise the efficiency of refineries to produce high-value products instead of heavy fuel.
Al-Rashidi said that the next meeting in Algeria is a regular meeting of the follow-up committee of OPEC countries and countries from outside OPEC, during which production quotas will be reviewed in OPEC countries and non-OPEC countries joining this group, expecting stability of the market until the end of this year.(End) msa.tg
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