Kuwait National Petroleum Company will shut its Shuaiba refinery permanently by April 2017, before its clean fuels project starts operating by mid-2018, its spokesman said at a news conference on Sunday.

The clean fuels project is an upgrade and expansion of the country's two largest existing refineries, with a focus on producing higher-value products such as diesel and kerosene for export.

Work on the clean fuels project is 36.7 per cent complete, and it is expected to be finished by mid-2018, the spokesman said.

Last year, state news agency Kuna quoted KNPC's deputy chief executive Mutlaq al-Azmi as saying it planned to shut the Shuaiba refinery by the end of 2017. The company plans to convert the Shuaiba facility into storage reservoirs, Azmi said.-Reuters