Kuwait power demand surges to record high, summer crude burn set to increase

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Demand for power in Kuwait hit record levels early this week as summer temperatures soar boosting demand for air conditioning, reported the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna).

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy (MEW) said that electrical loads reached a record high of 15,070 megawatts on Sunday, amid 50 degrees Celsius temperatures.

The peak load was up by 16.8% compared to the same time last year and is likely to continue rising over the next few days, said MEW.

Kuwait has just 15% reserve capacity, MEW said, as it called on residents to reduce consumption. State-refiner KNPC's chairman Hamzah Bakhash took to Twitter to call on Kuwaiti residents to rationalize their consumption.

"If every house turns off an air conditioning unit in places where no one is present, the balance will return to the electricity generation and distribution system in the country," he said. "This requires co-operation and rationalization for the benefit of all."

KNPC provides much of the fuel needed for power generation.

Kuwait normally relies largely on associated gas for power generation, topped up in the summer with LNG imported at a floating storage and regasification unit.

However, as electricity demand surged last year a drop in associated gas output resulting from the Opec+ production cut deal meant Kuwait burned record amounts of crude for power.

Its peak load reached a then-record 14.96GW in July 2020, pushing it to burn around 184,000 b/d, or nearly 10 times the amount used for power in 2019, according to Argus Media figures.

With most Kuwaiti citizens unable to escape the summer heat due to travel restrictions, pressure on the power network is expected to remain over the coming weeks.