Kuwaiti oil company plots pivot to Asia, Vietnam as 1st spot

While more established in Europe, Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) has set its strategic sights on Asia in pursuit of shifting global oil demand, according to Bakhit Al-Rashidi CEO.

In Vietnam, KPI is involved in a $9 billion refinery project that also includes such companies as Japan's Idemitsu Kosan. Construction began last year, and the refinery will likely be able to meet 40-50% of the country's demand after coming onstream in 2017.

KPI is a subsidiary of the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp., which oversees the nation's oil and gas sector. KPI now has refineries in Italy and the Netherlands and sells petroleum products in markets including Europe.
Kuwait plans to boost its crude production capacity to 4 million barrels a day from roughly 3 million and will likely send most of the additional output to Asia.

In another sign of new priorities, KPI plans to partner with China's state-owned Sinopec on a refinery and petrochemical project in Guangdong Province. The companies are just months away from reaching an agreement on the project, said Al-Rashidi.

KPI is working on plans for a similar project in Indonesia. The company exchanged a memorandum of understanding with state-owned oil giant Pertamina in August, and Al-Rashidi says negotiations are making steady progress.