Kuwait Oil Tanker Co will start building six oil and gas tankers in 2014 and receive nine others as part of a deal with South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, state-run news agency Kuna said.

The new tankers are part of the crude exporter's strategy to modernise its fleet, Kuna quoted Chairman Nabil Bouresli as saying.

Kuna had reported in January that the Kuwaiti company had signed a $556 million contract with Daewoo for five tankers. Kuwait's oil output is currently 3 million barrels a day, close to capacity. - Reuters