In 1934 KPC received the first Kuwait Oil Concession Agreement, after it was originally formed by the Gulf Oil Corporation and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. In 1975 the state signed agreements with British Petroleum and Gulf and after its shares were progressively increased, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation was founded on 27 January 1980 as an umbrella company, integrating KOC, KNPC, KOTC and PIC and effectively placing them under government control. Between 1983 and 1987 KPC acquired most of Gulf Oil's refining operations in Western Europe. In 1992 KPC began to operate in Spain and in 1994 the company acquired BP's Luxembourg assets. In May 2013Nizar Al-Adsani was appointed chief executive officer of the corporation. In December 2018 Hashem Hasehm was appointed as chief executive officer. In January 2020, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and Qatar Petroleum signed a 15-year sale and purchase agreement for the supply of up to 3 million tonnes of LNG to Kuwait annually. The agreement was signed in order to meet Kuwait’s growing energy needs and the LNG delivery will begin from 2022.
Production
KPC planed to achieve crude oil production capacities in Kuwait of 3.0 million barrels per day by 2010, 3.5 million barrels per day by 2015 and 4.0 million barrels per day by 2020. Its revenue was US$251.94 billion in 2014. KPC plans to achieve crude oil production capacities of by 2020.
Products
The company's products have been sold in some countries under a subsidiary's name Q8. In Europe, Q8 has a network of more than 4,400 service stations across six countries: Italy, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and, in Sweden, as the OKQ8 joint venture. In Scandinavia, Q8 runs 186 service stations, and 54 unmanned in Denmark. In Sweden, a subsidiary of KPC, KPI-Q8's gas stations are known as OKQ8 - a result of a merger between Q8 and Swedish "OK", more than 900 is available, most of them unmanned. In the Benelux, Kuwait Petroleum has a refinery in Europoort, Rotterdam, and is a partner in the Maasvlakte Olie Terminal, and runs 146 gas stations in the Netherlands. There are 404 Q8 stations in Belgium. Q8's large share of the Belgian market is due to the acquisition of Belgian BP offices in 1998 and the Aral stations in 1999. However, over the years, Q8 has closed many stations in residential areas and near apartment complexes. Like its competitors, Q8 also has a network of unmanned gas stations called Q8 Easy. In Belgium, Q8 has formed a partnership of sorts with Delhaize Shop'n Go. This is a small convenience store where ready-to-use and on-the-go products are sold. However, it still is able to offer a wide variety of automotive services. They have extensive hours, and are often combined with a Panos Corner bakery. There are no more Q8 stores in the UK, after being bought out in 2004 by a joint venture companyRefined Holdings, which was formed specifically for the sale. The Q8 brand has since then been phased out of the UK. Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the state-run oil company, will sell its crude oil at $3.95 a barrel below the regional benchmarks, the biggest discount since December 2008, Bloomberg reported Dec. 11, 2014. Saudi Arabia and Iraq also cut oil prices for Asia following the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' decision to maintain production levels, which ensured that global oil prices would stay low. It is likely that Middle Eastern countries are lowering prices to defend their market shares. Kuwait has sold crude oil to Asia at a discount since at least 2000.
