Kuwait, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, is in the process of renewing its shipping fleet, a senior official said on Monday.

'We are...changing most of the tankers we have, around 25 ships, said Saad al-Shuwaib, chief executive of the Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) at a conference.

'We have already received nine (tankers) and six are under construction.'

Kuwait's shipping business is run and operated by the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC).

Shuwaib said the move to renew the tanker fleet was to keep up with increasing oil production and international shipping regulations.

'They need to change ships because of increasing production, and because of new marine requirements in the ports,' he said.-Reuters