Kuwait changes privatisation plans

KUWAIT CITY, July 13, 2016 – Kuwaiti acting Oil Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anas Al Saleh on Tuesday reiterated the government’s plans to sell minority stakes in local oil and gas companies, unveiling a four-year plan.

First mulled in May, Al Saleh said yesterday that Kuwait Petroleum International, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, Kuwait Oil Tanker Company and the Petrochemicals Industries Company were among the entities looked at to take part in the government’s planned IPOs. The stakes will be between 20% and 30%, Bloomberg quoted Al Saleh as saying.

Tuesday’s comments mark a reversal from opec/”>statements made in May, when the minister said the sale of stakes would be limited to services companies. “For upstream and downstream, no. But on the services side, yes. We have some ideas,” Al Salah said at the time. The government will not be offering a stake in Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

While declining to give a specific timeframe for the IPOs, Al Saleh said “definitely soon.”

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