In OPEC Heartland, Billions Are Spent to Boost Oil Capacity
- Iraq, Kuwait, U.A.E. capacity rising 5 million barrels a day
- Even with U.S. increases, supply may not meet demand in 2025
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OPEC members may be weighing oil production cuts again, worried that a slowing global economy will undermine prices, but in the group’s Middle East heartland producers are spending billions to add output capacity for the long term.
As the global oil industry recovers from one of the worst slumps in its history, the biggest international energy companies are keeping their checkbooks closed and tightening up on investment so as to boost returns to shareholders. National oil companies in the Middle East, home to 48 percent of the world’s reserves, are bucking the trend.