Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), the Gulf Arab state's top state oil company, plans investments and projects worth KD20 billion ($75 billion) in the next five years, an official said in remarks published on Sunday.

The investment figure is higher than an earlier estimate given by Kuwait's Oil Minister Mohammad al-Olaim, who said in June the Opec producer would spend $55 billion on oil projects over the next five years.

The amount included KD5 billion designated for a planned upgrade of Kuwait's Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, Ali al-Hajeri, head of administrative and financial affairs at KPC, told Al-Rai newspaper.

State refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), a unit of KPC, said in July it planned a tender to boost capacity of the two refineries to 800,000 barrels per day from 600,000 bpd which might be worth as much as KD4 billion. No detailed cost estimate for the project has been given yet.

The projected KPC budget through to 2013 also includes KD4 billion to build the 615,000 bpd al-Zour refinery, Hajeri said.

KPC also planned several other projects to boost productivity and performance of the oil sector, he added. Kuwait, the world's seventh-largest oil exporter, sits on 10 per cent of proven global reserves.-Reuters