Rising domestic gas output and elevated LNG imports so far this year are helping Kuwait make progress on its long-standing goal to reduce reliance on burning oil for electricity generation.
For more than a decade, Kuwait has pushed to cut domestic consumption of crude and refined products in favour of exports. Oil revenues have long formed the backbone of the economy, regularly accounting for more than 80pc of total state income.
Central to this strategy is scaling back the volume of oil burned for power and replacing it with gas. Like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait burns significant volumes of fuel oil, gasoil and crude to meet electricity demand, particularly during the summer months when temperatures regularly exceed 45°C and cooling needs surge.
Between 2009 and 2019, Kuwait's liquids burn fell steadily from around 206,000 b/d to 131,000 b/d, while gas use nearly tripled to 1.2bn ft³/d from 0.41bn ft³/d. Liquid burn has since rebounded, despite continued growth in gas use. But data from the first eight months of this year suggest 2025 could see liquid burn drop below 2019 levels — potentially reaching its lowest point in more than two decades.
Liquid burn averaged just under 130,000 b/d in January–August, according to Kuwait's ministry of electricity, water and renewable energy, down by 13pc from around 149,000 b/d in the same period last year. The decline was driven by a sharp drop in fuel oil use — 112,700 b/d this year versus 144,000 b/d in 2024 — which more than offset modest increases in crude and gasoil burn.
During the peak summer months of June–August, when power generation typically spikes, liquid burn averaged 155,000 b/d — well below 185,500 b/d in the same period of 2024 and 183,000 b/d in 2023.
Gas gains
The shift has been supported by a near 5pc year-on-year increase in gas use over the first eight months of 2025, driven by higher domestic output and increased LNG imports.
Figures from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi) put Kuwait's gas output at 2.07bn ft³/d in June — a new monthly record. Production averaged 1.95bn ft³/d in the first half of the year, up from 1.85bn ft³/d in the same period last year and above the 1.92bn ft³/d full-year average for 2024.
Roughly two-thirds of Kuwait's gas production is associated, with the remaining third — around 750mn ft³/d — coming from the Jurassic fields in the north of the country. This reliance on associated gas has left Kuwait exposed to its Opec+ commitments, which have kept crude output well below its 2.8mn–2.9mn b/d capacity for much of the past three years.
LNG imports have also risen, particularly during the summer. Kuwait imported 5.2mn t of LNG in January–August, up from 4.9mn t in the same period last year, according to Vortexa.
Most of Kuwait's LNG comes from Qatar, under two long-term supply deals. The first, signed in 2020, covers 3mn t/yr for 15 years starting in 2022. The second, signed last year, adds another 3mn t/yr for 15 years from 2025.
With Opec+ set to raise output this month and next — and potentially again in the coming months — Kuwait's crude production and associated gas output should rise. That could help the country set a new annual gas production record for the third year running, and push liquid burn to its lowest level in more than 20 years.
