Page 5 - Al-Rashed Newsletter January 2022

KUWAIT & IRAQ
KUWAIT NEWS

Kuwait sees ‘unprecedented’ COVID-19 wave, says minister
Kuwait is experiencing a "high, unprecedented” wave of COVID-19
infections, the country’s Health Minister Dr Khalid Al Saeed was quoted
as saying.
More than 5,000 infections on a daily average were registered in
January, which are more than double the Delta variant cases that were
previously recorded, the minister added, according to Al-Jarida
newspaper.
Last week, daily COVID-19 infections in Kuwait exceeded the 5,000
mark for the first time since the country’s first case of the pandemic was
detected nearly two years ago.
As part of new precautions announced by the government to curtail the
spread of the virus, all arrivals in Kuwait are now required to present a
negative PCR conducted 72 hours before arrival.
The Kuwaiti government has also decided to temporarily halt all social
events held at indoor places starting from January 9 until February 28.

Kuwait will again issue work visas to expats over 60 years old
Kuwait will again allow expatriates who are 60 years old and older to
obtain a work permit, the Minister of Justice and Minister of State for
“Nazaha” Boosting Affairs Jamal Al-Jalawai announced, Kuwait state
news agency KUNA reported.
The decision this week ends a months-long debate in Kuwait following a
2020 ruling in which Kuwaiti officials banned renewing work permits for
those who are over 60 years old and those who hold only a secondary
school certificate or less.
During the ban, around 4,000 expatriates were pushed out of the labour
market due to their age.
IRAQ NEWS

Work Starts at $594m Oil Processing Plant at Block 9
The President of the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC) has laid the foundation
stone for the $594-million crude oil processing plant at Block 9, within the Al-
Fayha Oil Field in Basra Province.
Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail said that the development is important for the
production of light oil, with a target for this project of up to 100,000 barrels of
“IF YOU WANT TO LIVE A crude oil per day, along with 135 mmscfd of gas at a future stage for electricity
HAPPY LIFE, TIE IT TO A production.

GOAL, NOT TO PEOPLE Khaled Hamza, General Manager of Basra Oil Company (BOC), said the
development of the field was started in 2014 by Kuwait Energy Company
OR THINGS."- ALBERT
(KEC) and continued by the Chinese company UEG [United Energy Group]
EINSTEIN which acquired KEC, and that the first exploration well was drilled and the results
were encouraging.
He stressed that the oil produced from the exploration Block 9 is one of the best
types of oil globally.
Source: iraq-businessnews.com, Arabtbusiness.com ,Gulfnews.com
The CEO of UEG, Sonk Yu [Song Yu, Chief Operation Officer??], said that laying
the foundation stone for the development was an important moment for the
company.