Recently, Sheikh Nawaf Al Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC), said at the 18th Annual Forum of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) in Muscat that Kuwait is planning to develop an integrated upstream and downstream petrochemical complex at its new Al Zour refinery as part of the country's broader goal of tripling domestic petrochemical capacity by 2040.

Sabah also revealed that Kuwait is also considering conducting studies on a potential fourth olefin production line at another location. After the 615,000 barrels per day Al-Zour refinery is put into commercial operation in November 2022, KPC hopes to develop into downstream petrochemicals. KPC is currently establishing a partnership through its joint venture Equate with Dow Chemical to establish new domestic, regional and international partnerships to help Kuwait expand its petrochemical capacity. If a final investment decision is made, the nameplate capacity of Al Zour's petrochemical expansion project will be up to 2.7 million tons per year of aromatics and polypropylene.

KPC remains optimistic about the long-term demand growth prospects for petrochemicals. "Although we hear a lot about the peak in oil demand, no one is talking about the peak in petrochemical demand, which is still essential to modern life." Sabah said Kuwait plans to more than triple its petrochemical production from the current 4.5 million tons/year by 2040. KPC is also looking for growth opportunities by acquiring petrochemical production capacity.