KUWAIT OIL UPDATE -- MARCH 23, 2003

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001049 SIPDIS STATE FOR TASK FORCE 1 - EB ACTION OFFICER STATE ALSO FOR EB/ESC AND NEA/ARP TREASURY FOR OASIA USDOC FOR 4520/MAC/AME DOE FOR IE - L. COBURN AND C. WASHINGTON E.O. 12958: DECL: X5, X6 TAGS: EPET KU SUBJECT: KUWAIT OIL UPDATE -- MARCH 23, 2003 REF: KUWAIT 1036 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: DCM Frank C. Urbancic for reasons 1.5. (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) A Senior KOC official tells the Embassy that the KOC firefighting team is now on site at the Ratqa Field camp in Northern Kuwait. They visited the site of burning oil wells in the Rumaila field in Southern Iraq yesterday, and intend to enter Iraq again tomorrow to begin the work of extinguishing the fires. A separate KOC official said that the firm will likely bring the Ratqa field back on line soon to reduce pressure in the field (which straddles the border into Iraq) and make the fire fighting efforts easier). (N.B. Other KPC officials had reported that no fields were shut in.) ¶2. (C) Following is unedited data set received from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation afternoon of 3/23/03. Explanatory comments follow at para 3. Begin Report Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Daily Crude Production All figures in bbls This report covers activities from 0500 3/22/03 to 0500 3/23/00 Total Kuwait Production 2,479,035 KOC Proper: South East: 1,380,453 West: 346,192 North: 412,291 Total: 2,138,936 Wafra Joint Operations: R/B to KOC 141,138 R/B to KNPC 0 R/B to SAT 0 R/B total 141,138 Eocene 37,961 KGOC: Khafji 141,000 Hout 20,000 KEC Receipt 2,261,341 (API 30.8, Salt PTB 10.8) KEC Stock 5,181,000 KEC Ullage 9,012,731 End Report 3.(C) Explanatory Comments: Wafra Joint Operations refer to onshore concessions in Saudi-Kuwait divided zone operated by Saudi Arabian Texaco (SAT). R/B refers to the two producing reservoirs -- Ratawi and Burgan. KOC is Kuwait Oil Company KNPC is Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation KGOC is the Kuwaiti successor to Arabian Oil Company (AOC), which previously operated a concession in the offshore portions of the Saudi-Kuwait divided zone -- AOC still operates the fields under a service agreement. KEC refers to Kuwait Export Crude, the country's export blend. Salt PTB refers to pounds of salt per thousand barrels of crude oil. JONES