Kuwait and Netherlands to strengthen cooperation in oil sector
KUNA reported that Kuwait and the Netherlands have undernied their desire to intensify and expand bilateral cooperation in the oil sector after 2 day visit by an 8 member delegation of board members of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation to the Netherlands.
Mr Abdulhadi Al Awwad KPC board member said that “The purpose of their visit on Monday and Tuesday was to acquaint ourselves with our operations in the Netherlands and Italy. This refinery Kuwait Petroleum Europoort in Rotterdam is doing very well. We have visited some of the locations and we are happy with what we have seen."
Mr Esmaiel Hussain president of Kuwait Petroleum International said that the meetings with the Dutch port officials went very well. KPI is the international marketing and refining arm of KPC. KPC board members"stressed their strong support for our investments in the Netherlandss as well as the desire to expand their cooperation with the port authority of Rotterdam.
Mr Hussain said that the KPC is planning an Orange Project to enhance and modernize its refinery in Rotterdam by investing in new facilities and a final decision will be taken on the project next year. We have been in the Netherlands for the past thirty years through KPI and Q8 and we are planning to strengthen that, provided that investment is sustainable and it is profitable in the long term.
Mr Abdul Wahab Al Wazzan KPC board member said that investments in refineries especially here in Rotterdam have a lot of added value. The added value is training to be in the international market diversification of income for Kuwait to learn the know how and new technology and give opportunity to young Kuwaitis to learn technology and transfer it to Kuwait.
He said that "To be present at one of the largest ports in the world and manufacturing oil products is an asset for Kuwait. We think that continuing expansion in such area like Rotterdam port and expanding refineries I believe will enhance the profitability and give an advantage over others."
Mr Bas Hennissen commerical director port of Rotterdam port said that the Orange project being considered by the KPC is a very important project for the Rotterdam port. There are four major refineries in the Rotterdam port including Shell, BP, Exxon and Kuwait Petroleum. So it is very important for us that KPC is also modernising the refinery.
He said that half of the goods carried through the Rotterdam port, the biggest in Europe is related to oil and oil refining. This is a typical energy hub so we believe that in the future the activates around energy will be very important. We have large amount of major oil companies here and we believe they will stay.