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By Rania El Gamal and Reem Shamseddine
MANAMA, March 9 (Reuters) - Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) plansto tender this year for oilfield enhanced technical serviceagreements, the chief executive of the state-run company said onMonday.
"We are in the process of issuing this tender during thisyear," Hashem Hashem told reporters on the sidelines of aconference in Bahrain.
BP, Chevron, Total and Royal DutchShell were interested in such deals, Hashem said.
KOC, the upstream arm of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, wantsto increase crude output and develop some of its oilfieldsincluding Burgan, the world's second largest.
The plan is part of efforts to meet the OPEC member state'starget of 4 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) by 2020. Kuwaitcurrently produces around 3 million bpd and exports aroundtwo-thirds of that output.
Kuwait's oil production capacity is around 3.2 million bpdand plans to raise output are proceeding despite a fall in oilprices since mid-2014, Hashem said.
"We have a plan which we are progressing with. The oil price(drop) as we see it is a temporary thing," he said.
Kuwait aims to increase its oil and gas drilling rigs by 50percent by early next year to 120.
"All those 120 rigs are onshore," he said, adding that KOCplans offshore exploration drilling in 2016. (Editing by William Maclean and Jason Neely)
