Kuwait has discovered five trillion cubic feet (0.14 trillion cubic meter) of natural gas, raising the proved gas reserves to 40 trillion cubic feet (1.14 trillion cubic meter), the local newspaper Arab Times reported on Thursday.

The report quoted deputy managing director of the state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) Khalid Al-Sumaiti as saying that Kuwait will invest billions of U.S. dollars to develop the newly-found gas field, which is located in the country's west district.

He said that the initial output of the gas field is expected to reach 180 million cubic feet (5.09 million cubic meter) a day by the end of 2007.

The discovery was another success achieved by Kuwait in exploration following the country's large finds of hydrocarbon in the north in March, which included about 35 trillion cubic feet (1 trillion cubic meter) of natural gas.

Kuwait, an OPEC member, has the world's fourth largest oil reserve of about 96.8 billion barrels. Currently, Kuwait produces almost 2.4 million barrels a day.

Source: Xinhua