Heat blackouts blamed on Kuwait’s fuel supply issues

Alamy/Leonid Andronov

• Residential neighbourhoods affected
• People told to conserve electricity
• Summer heat can exceed 50C

Rolling power cuts that have beset oil-rich Kuwait over the last two days have been blamed on technical issues experienced in fuel supplies.

Several residential neighbourhoods experienced rolling blackouts over the weekend due to “a fuel supply disruption”, according to a statement from state-run Kuna news agency. The cuts also closed down desalination plants and some power stations.

In a post on social media platform X, the Gulf state’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said the power cuts were implemented “in order to maintain the stability of the country’s power grid”.

The authority requested residents conserve electricity during peak hours between 11am and 5pm.

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“It seems like there may be an infrastructure issue, with the grid potentially being overwhelmed with extreme temperatures hitting the region,” said Matt Stanley, head of market engagement at Kpler.

Kuwait is consistently among the hottest countries in the world, particularly during the summer months when temperatures can rise to as high as 54 degrees Celsius, and air conditioning units are in high demand.

The forecast high for Kuwait on Monday was 41 degrees Celsius.

Stanley added that his company’s data showed that Kuwait’s fuel oil exports, some of which serve as the main feedstock for power generation during the cooling season, have risen to a record high. Some of this could be diverted for use on the domestic market.

According to the US International Trade Administration, Kuwait holds about 7 percent of global oil reserves and has a current production capacity of about 3 million barrels per day (bpd).

Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) previously announced plans to spend $44 billion on oil production, exploration and “other projects” through 2025, in line with national plans to increase production capacity to four million bpd by 2035.

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The state has also invested heavily in upgrading and expanding its domestic refining capacity. The $30 billion Al-Zour Refinery project, which became fully operational in 2023, is expected to increase Kuwait’s total refining capacity to 615,000 barrels bpd by the end of 2023.

Despite the windfall from oil, the country suffers from power outages amid growing electricity demand and lack of infrastructure maintenance.

“There has been little investment in new generating capacity for years, because of the political deadlock, and probably not much due online over the next two years either,” said Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy.

“There are some emergency measures in place, but I think we can expect more scheduled and unscheduled power cuts over the next two summers at least.”

The total amount of electricity generated in Kuwait in 2022 was about 83.5 terawatt hours, compared to 57.5 terawatt hours in 2011, according to Statista.

The country has nine utility scale power plants in operation, with a total capacity of almost 18,000 megawatts.

In July Kuwait announced a significant discovery of light oil and associated natural gas in its offshore Al-Nokhatha field.

The state-owned Kuwait Oil Company – a subsidiary of KPC – said the field, located east of the Kuwaiti island of Failaka, holds approximately 2.1 billion barrels of light oil and 5.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent to 3.2 billion barrels of oil.