Kuwait Gulf Oil Co expects oil production from the Al-Khafji oilfield to reach 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the first quarter, its managing director said in published remarks.

'The company is working on a big number of exploration and drilling operations in the divided zone to reach the set goals of the firm and its Saudi partner,' Bader Al-Khashti was quoted as saying by Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah on Tuesday.

Kuwait's current oil production from the field is at 272,000 bpd, Al-Khashti said.

Al-Khafji, which is in the Neutral Zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, has oil production capacity of around 550,000 bpd. Both countries plan to boost capacity in the zone to 700,000-900,000 bpd by 2030.

Current gas production from Khafji is between 60 to 70 million cubic feet per day, equally divided between the two countries, he said.
   
The Opec member aims to reach an oil production capacity of 4 million bpd in 2020 and sustain it until 2030, Kuwaiti oil minister told Reuters last year.

Kuwait, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, pumped 2.28 million bpd of crude in January, according to a Reuters survey.- Reuters