Kuwait assessing shale-oil deposits

Kuwait has started a study to assess shale-oil deposits in the country, an official at state-run Kuwait Oil Corporation (KOC), said in remarks published on Sunday. The study is due to be completed early next year, KOC’s deputy managing director for northern Kuwait, Hassania Hashim said, according to the official Kuwait News Agency. Kuwait, a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), currently produces around three million barrels a day of crude oil and does not need shale, she said. In November, the International Energy Agency, which represents key oil consumers, predicted the US will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 thanks to a shale output boom, a forecast which the Opec secretary general said could undermine its members’ spending plans.