A key technical panel has approved a previously stalled $15 billion project to build a refinery with capacity of 615,000 barrels per day (bpd) in Kuwait, a newspaper reported on Monday.

Al-Rai daily said in an unsourced report the country's highest oil policy body, the Supreme Petroleum Council, will now have to make the final decision about building the Al-Zour refinery.

It did not say when the council was expected to meet.

Opec member Kuwait had in March last year scrapped plans to build the country's fourth refinery in the face of opposition from several lawmakers who questioned the tender process.

Tension between parliament and cabinet has delayed a number of other energy projects.

The newspaper said the tendering process and other administrative procedures would take up to two years before construction of the refinery could start.

The facility would eventually replace the older 200,000 bpd refinery at Shuaiba and produce low-sulphur fuel oil. - Reuters