Sinopec wins $403-million Kuwait Oil contract

China's top oil refiner China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) has signed a $403-million deal with the state-owned Kuwait Oil Co (KOC) to build five oil and gas rigs for KOC.

The Beijing-based state-run company said in a statement that the five-year deal is the largest of its kind that Sinopec has ever won.

The deal is part of Kuwait's long-term strategy to boost the Gulf state's oil production capacity to four million barrels per day by 2020, KOC chairman Sami al-Rasheed said in a statement.

Kuwaiti oil executives said last week that the emirate has succeeded in raising its oil output capacity to three million barrels per day (bpd) and was forging ahead with its long-term strategy despite a slump in the price of oil.

The fourth largest oil and petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) producer, which sits on about 10 per cent of global crude reserves, Kuwait currently pumps around 2.2 million bpd.

Sinopec has been also in talks with Kuwait Petroleum Corp, KOC's parent company, to construct a $9 billion refinery and petrochemical complex in south China's Guangdong province.