Hashin Al-Rifai, KPC’s planning manager, said the investments were part of a longer-term program that envisions $340 billion in spending to 2030.

“On the oil sector capital program, we are well on track and poised to spend around $90 billion in the coming five years...that is going to mushroom to $340 billion over the 2030 plan period,” he said.

The Gulf Arab state said last year it would invest around 3 billion dinars ($10.4 billion) in upstream developments by 2015 to expand oil production capacity to 4 million barrels per day (bpd) from 3 million bpd by 2020 and sustain the higher level for 10 years.

Kuwait is also planning major investments in downstream operations, including the Al-Zour oil refinery, which would be the fourth in the country.

Al-Zour, which was expected to start up in 2016, is currently stalled and may face further delays while it awaits the approval of the country’s Supreme Petroleum Council, Al-Rifai told reporters.

The OPEC member has said it plans to increase its refining capacity to 1.4 million bpd up from 936,000 bpd.

Al-Rifai added that talks over a heavy oil technical service agreement with oil major ExxonMobil are expected to be concluded by the summer.

Meanwhile, Kuwait is in talks with BP Plc and other major energy companies over a possible role in its $9 billion refining joint venture with Sinopec in China, a Kuwaiti official said on Tuesday.

Mohammed Jassem, vice president and chief planning officer for Kuwait Petroleum International, the overseas arm of the state oil company, told reporters Kuwait hoped to conclude the partner selection process by May.

“We are not at the final stage. Along with BP there are others,” Jassem said. “The door is open for whoever is potentially interested.”

The $9 billion refinery and petrochemical project was approved by Beijing last month and is part of Kuwait’s aim of more than doubling crude exports to China to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The project consists of a 300,000 bpd refinery and a 1 million ton-per-year ethylene cracker. Kuwait and Sincopec are equal partners in the project.

Kuwait exported less than 200,000 bpd to China in 2010 but Beijing is keen to lock in future oil supplies to feed its booming economy.

A third partner would be expected to bring financing to the project.

Kuwait held talks in 2009 with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Dow Chemical Co. over a role in the project in 2009 but no deal with either firm was reached.