Kuwait announced it plans to invest $115b on oil projects over the next five years, despite the slump in oil prices, Wafa Al-Zaabi, Head of Planning at Kuwait Petroleum, said. As the senior executive explained, over $100b will be spent on the local market while the rest will be spent abroad, Arab News reported.

Al-Zaabi stated that more than two-thirds of the investment has been allocated for exploration and production, and added that among main projects, it plans to build four gathering centers, carry out a key project to boost heavy oil production and raise output of free natural gas to over 2bcf daily, from 150mcf currently.

Besides the upstream projects, the OPEC member is implementing three downstream ventures costing over $30b. These include a new 615,000bp/d refinery and a clean fuel project to upgrade two of the three existing refineries, and a platform for liquefied Natural gas (LNG) imports, Daily Mail wrote.

Despite Kuwait’s calls for reaching an output ceiling to prop up crude oil prices, the government has insisted it will continue capital investment as planned.