Kuwait gave the oil portfolio to former acting oil minister Mohammad Al-Olaim in a cabinet formed on Wednesday following parliamentary elections.

Ministers of finance, foreign affairs, defence and interior from the previous cabinet kept their positions in the 15-member government, according to a decree carried by state media.

The previous government resigned in March over a prolonged row with parliament, prompting the ruler Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to dissolve the house and call elections.

But Sheikh Sabah kept his nephew Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah at the helm of the new cabinet.

Al-Olaim, also Minister of Electricity and water, has been acting oil minister for the best part of a year. The oil position has been vacant since November when Badr Al-Humaidhi quit after days, bowing to pressure from hostile deputies.

Al Humaidhi's predecessor, Sheikh Ali Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, stood down in June after being questioned by deputies over remarks to a newspaper.

Oil industry officials have said uncertainty at the oil ministry has led to delays in projects to boost efficiency and output in the world's seventh-largest oil exporter to 4 million barrels per day by 2020.

A multi-billion plan to explore northern oil fields and boost output has been on hold for more than a decade.

The seven new faces in the lineup included Fadhel Safar, a Shi'ite Muslim politician who was questioned by prosecutors in March for involvement in an event that raised sectarian tension in the mainly Sunni Muslim country.

The new cabinet has two women, including Nuriya Al-Subih, a liberal heading the education ministry who angered Islamists by refusing to wear a head covering when she took the oath of office in the previous cabinet.

Women failed to secure any seats in the elections but members of the government do not have to be elected members of parliament.

"There are seeds for tension in the new government lineup," said Islamist deputy Khaled Sultan al-Eisa on Wednesday ahead of the cabinet announcement.

The long row between government and parliament has delayed economic reforms aimed at preparing the Gulf Arab state for the decades to come in which its oil reserves will run low.

Kuwait wants to emulate the success of Gulf neighbours Dubai and Bahrain, which have become regional financial centres and popular tourist destinations, but key plans such as a law to set up a financial regulator have become stuck in parliament.

Islamists and tribal politicians maintained their grip on the new assembly, dashing hopes it will pursue more reforms than the old assembly, which had focused on questioning ministers.

Newspapers said the announcement of the cabinet had been originally planned for Tuesday but was delayed as several candidates turned down offers, worried about the possibility of being questioned in parliament.

Kuwait pumps about 2.6 million barrels of oil per day and sits on about a tenth of global oil reserves. - Reuters