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Kuwait’s Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) has approved the merger of Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (Kipic) into Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), according to a statement published in the country’s official Gazette.

The absorption of Kipic into KNPC is part of a broader plan to reduce the number of separate state-owned companies in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector and increase efficiency.

Under the current merger plans, Kipic will cease to exist as a legal corporate entity, with KNPC taking over all of its assets, rights, obligations and liabilities.

To facilitate the merger, the SPC approved an increase in KNPC’s capital by an amount equivalent to the book value of Kipic’s assets as of 31 March 2026.

Following the integration, KNPC’s total capital is projected to reach between KD2.632bn ($8.51bn) and KD2.635bn ($8.52bn).

KNPC’s Articles of Association will be amended to accommodate Kipic’s operational scope.

Kuwait’s Minister of Oil Tareq Sulaiman Al-Roumi has been delegated the authority to determine the official effective date of the merger and its implementation.

As well as being Kuwait’s minister of oil, Al-Roumi is also the chairman of Kuwait’s national oil and gas company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), which is the parent company of both Kipic and KNPC.

The process of merging state-owned companies in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector has been slowly progressing for several years.

KPC started the executive phase of the planned merger of its subsidiaries Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) in July last year.

As part of the merger process, all of the shares in KGOC were transferred to KOC. Previously, the shares in KGOC were owned directly by KPC.

The start of the merger of Kipic and KNPC was announced in April last year.