KUWAIT REQUESTS IMMEDIATE U.S. ASSISTANCE TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001063 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/FO E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2013 TAGS: PREL EAID EPET KU SA JO SUBJECT: KUWAIT REQUESTS IMMEDIATE U.S. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE JORDAN OIL REF: KUWAIT 858 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Ambassador Richard H. Jones for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para. 5. ¶2. (C) Summary: On March 24, the GOK requested immediate USG assistance in facilitating an oil swap with Saudi Arabia, thereby providing Jordan with badly needed crude oil. End Summary. ¶3. (C) During their March 24 meeting, Kuwaiti MinState for Foreign Affairs, Shaykh Dr. Mohammed Al-Sabah told the Ambassador that Jordanian FM Marwan Muasher had recently contacted him to request that the GOK provide Jordan with its previously promised oil support. FM Muasher told Dr. Mohammed that the KSA had informed him that the Yanbu export terminal had reached it maximum export capacity, and Saudi Arabia would not be able to help Kuwait meet its commitments to Jordan. (Note: Publicly available information lists the East-West Pipeline (Petroline) capacity as 4.8 million barrels-per-day (bpd) and Yanbu Export Terminal capacity as 4.5 million bpd. End Note.) ¶4. (C) Dr. Mohammed said Kuwait "will honor its commitments" and stands ready to support Jordan. However, it has no way to ship oil to Jordan itself. He proposed that the best solution would be a Kuwaiti/Saudi oil swap whereby Saudi Arabia would make 25,000 bpd of oil available at Yanbu and in return Kuwait would provide 25,000 bpd from its share of production at the Khafji oil field to Saudi Arabia. He asked for USG support in persuading Saudi Arabia to agree to such an arrangement. ¶5. (C) Action Request: Embassy recommends Department issue urgent demarche to both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to fix this problem between themselves without further delay. JONES