KUWAIT OIL UPDATE -- MARCH 27, 2003

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001112 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: 1.6 X5, X6 TAGS: EPET KU SUBJECT: KUWAIT OIL UPDATE -- MARCH 27, 2003 REF: KUWAIT 1101 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: DCM Frank C. Urbancic for reasons 1.5. (B) and (D) ¶1. (U) Press reports on 3/27/03 confirm that efforts to extinguish fires burning in the Rumaila field in southern Iraq were abandoned on Tuesday, March 25, due to poor weather conditions, and added that joint efforts of the Kuwaiti Oil Company (KOC) firefighting team and U.S. contractor Boots and Coots were expected to resume today. The leader of the KOC team, Aisa Bou Yabes, said that all fires could be doused within ten days to two weeks. 2.(U) Separately, a spokesman for the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said that 17 oil wells in the Ratqa field in northern Kuwait had been reopened to produce 24,000 barrels per day (bpd). The spokesman, Sheikh Talal Al-Sabah, said the remaining 22 wells would be reopened "gradually." Sheikh Talal added that once the Ratqa field was fully on line, KPC would consider reopening the Abdali field, also shut in at the onset of the conflict. 3.(C) Following is unedited data set received from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation afternoon of 3/27/03. Explanatory comments follow at para 2. Begin Report Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Daily Crude Production All figures in bbls This report covers activities from 0500 3/26/03 to 0500 3/27/00 Total Kuwait Production 2,441,022 KOC Proper: South East: 1,366,693 West: 352,218 North: 415,856 Total: 2,134,767 Wafra Joint Operations: R/B to KOC 144,311 R/B to KNPC 0 R/B to SAT 150 R/B total 144,461 Eocene 23,294 KGOC: Khafji 120,500 Hout 18,000 KEC Receipt 2,259,442 (API 30.6, Salt PTB 25.0) KEC Stock 6,481,010 KEC Ullage 7,712,721 End Report 4.(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. ¶5. (SBU) NOTE: Interested readers may also receive these sitreps via SIPRNet e-mail. To be added to the mailing list, send a request via SIPRNet e-mail to SchwartzTPKuwait@state.sgov.gov. JONES