Decline in oil prices won't affect government projects

The drop in oil prices will not impact on the country's developmental projects, said Oil Minister Dr. Ali Al-Omair on Wednesday.
"Our major projects meet the interest of citizens, including services of health care, and education and infrastructure will not be affected by the decline in oil prices," Al-Omair said in a reply to a question by MPs at a complementary session on a law regarding the state's budget 2014/2015.
"We have not so far witnessed a budget deficit, but it may appear in the future if the oil prices continue falling, he noted.
According to official figures, the budget, from last April until next April, sill covers major projects so they will not be affected by the drop in oil prices, he pointed out.
The minister underlined the influence of the State of Kuwait at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), especially its attempts to find a solution regarding the current drop in oil prices.
"Kuwait will not take a single decision or harm its interests through cutting its oil production," he stressed.
He said that the positivity of the decision taken by the OPEC regarding maintaining oil production levels will appear in the future.
"Kuwait has a single source, so we should diversify our income sources and address any deficit that may appear in the future. We should deal with the reality professionally, notably oil production," he told MPs.
The interest of Kuwait is embodied in the OPEC's consistency, he added, noting that Kuwait produces about 2.7 million barrels per day, according to statistics revealed last month.
This production is little if compared to the global production which reaches 90 million barrels per day, he explained.
"Kuwait's production capacity hits three million barrels per day," he said, noting the recent OPEC meeting discussed the proposal of cutting oil production, but it was useless to do that.
The surplus of oil at the global market is estimated at 1.8 million barrels per day so there is no benefit to cut production at a time when the global growth has low rates.
The OPEC urged member countries to make coordination concerning the developments of price and production.
"All of them ask you to cut your production, however they increase theirs. This is unacceptable. So we should maintain our marketing quotas and production to meet our needs," he noted, hoping that oil prices could rebound.
The OPEC's decision not to cut production was right and its positive results will appear in the future when global growth has high rates, he stressed.
He underlined the continuation of major oil projects, including the environmental projects and the new refinery as well as benefiting from oil products through refining crude oil by establishing a petrochemical plant.
Source: KUNA