Kuwait said Wednesday the state-owned Kuwait Oil Company has inked a five-year service contract with Royal Dutch Shell to develop the country's northern gas fields, Xinhua reported.
According to the deal, Shell would provide technical assistance to help the country boost output from gas fields not associated with oil production, the official KUNA news agency reported.
But KUNA did not disclose the value of the contract.
Kuwait is the fourth largest exporter of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and sits atop 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves.
The Gulf Arab emirate pumps around 2.3 million barrels of crude per day under OPEC's quota, but it has to import liquified natural gas every year to meet surging demand.
KUNA said the country has planned to lift its gas production from the current 140 million cubic feet to one billion by 2015 and 2016.
Kuwait inks five-year gas fields service contract with Shell
