KUWAIT, May 11 (Reuters) - Kuwait's state oil group said onSunday it would sign a six-year liquefied natural gas (LNG)supply deal with Royal Dutch Shell estimated at $12billion as the major oil exporter seeks to meet energy demandsfor the hot summer months.
It was not immediately clear if the contract was the same asan LNG supply deal between Kuwait Petroleum Corp and Shellreported last month in a Kuwaiti newspaper.
KPC officials were not immediately available for comment.
In a statement KPC said Oil Minister Ali al-Omair hadreceived a delegation from Shell to sign the contract. It didnot provide the volume of the super-cooled gas that would besupplied by Shell.
Kuwait wants to burn LNG instead of resorting to diesel andcrude oil, which have higher harmful emissions, KPC added.
A Shell spokesman said he could not comment on details ofcommercial agreements.
Kuwait began importing LNG in 2009 and signed deals withShell and Swiss-based trader Vitol to supply it from April toOctober, the period of peak power demand, for the last fouryears.
Surging air conditioning demand in the scorching MiddleEastern summer and a lack of domestic supply mean Kuwait needsto import more gas each year to feed its power plants.
Kuwait signed an LNG deal with fellow Gulf state Qatar lastmonth. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall in Kuwait and Rania El Gamal inDubai; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)