Chevron Can Resume Saudi-Kuwait Oil Field Quickly If Needed: CEO

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. could start oil production “relatively quickly” in the so-called partitioned zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait if required to by both nations, Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said in an interview with CNBC.

• The zone can produce as much as 500,000 barrels a day but has been shuttered for at least four years due to a dispute between the two countries.

Key Takeaways

• The partition zone, or PZ, is one of several non-producing fields across OPEC countries that could be restarted to fill a void in global oil supply, Wirth said after an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities reduced output from the world’s largest crude exporter.
• Kuwait officials said in July that the country is in talks with Saudi Arabia over restarting production from the field.
• The two sides resolved the major issues and only had technical points remaining, a person familiar with the discussions said in July.

More from the CNBC interview

• President Trump is doing “exactly the right thing” in authorizing releases from the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Wirth said.
• It’s too early to assess the long-term impact on oil prices but the market has become too comfortable with geopolitical risk, he said. “These events demonstrate that these risks are real.”
• U.S. shale producers won’t immediately be able to increase production to fill the void, Wirth said. “You can’t just flip a switch.”

Get More

See the full interview here.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Crowley in Houston at kcrowley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Catherine Traywick, David Marino

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