Bader al-Attar, the Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) corporate planning manager, has outlined plans to spend more than KD13bn ($45.9bn) from 2014 to 2019 on new infrastructure to reach the country’s production targets.

The capital expenditure programme covers two broad areas to allow KOC to reach its production targets, according to Al-Attar addressing delegates at the MEED’s Kuwait Projects 2013 conference.

The first area is increasing the recovery factor from Kuwait’s existing reservoirs, through the upgrade and construction of facilities, while the second covers the exploration and the development of new sources, such as heavy oil and Jurassic gas reserves.

KOC will spend KD1.7bn over the next five years on increasing its drilling capability, increasing the number of wells to 250 a year compared with the current level of 200. IIn addition, it plans to increase the proportion of horizontal and directional wells.

There is also a major water injection programme to maintain pressure in Kuwait’s fields. The largest of these is the Wara Pressure Maintenance Programme, which will inject up to 670,000 barrels a day (b/d) of water, and will increase production from 150,000 b/d to 300,00 b/d at a cost of KD500m.

The increased use of artificial lift techniques to support the flow of oil to the surface is another scheme, with costs estimated at about KD10m.

KOC plans to build five new gathering centres, in addition to the 24 it already has in operation. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tenders for three of the centres were issued in August.