SUBSCRIPTION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2014 THULHIJA 28, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Tunisia election Pistorius starts offers post-Arab 5-year jail term Spring hope7 for17 killing lover Saudi, Kuwait price war Max 30º Min 16º underlies oilfield closure High Tide 11:01 & 23:14 Shutdown of joint field brings back old disputes Low Tide 05:03 & 17:16 40 PAGES NO: 16320 150 FILS DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s closure of an offshore oilfield it News shares with Kuwait has revived speculation of renewed in brief tensions between the two, and put Chevron’s role in the shared Neutral Zone in focus. Crude output from their jointly-run offshore Khafji oilfield has been halted tem- Twitter ‘source of all porarily to comply with environmental rules. “Little evil’: Top Saudi cleric things lead to big things, it’s an accumulation of the RIYADH: The microblogging site Twitter popular among past. Each party says a different story,” said Kamel Al- both men and women in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia is Harami, an independent Kuwaiti analyst. nothing more than “a source of lies” and evil, the kingdom’s The loss of Khafji’s 280,000 barrels per day of Arabian top Muslim cleric said. “If it were used correctly, it could be Heavy crude will be felt more in Kuwait, which has far of real benefit, but unfortunately it’s exploited for trivial less spare output than its neighbor, the world’s top oil matters,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh said on his Fatwa tel- exporter. Oil prices rose briefly to over $86 a barrel on evision show broadcast late Monday. Twitter is “the source Monday on the news. Any differences between the two of all evil and devastation,” the mufti said. “People are rush- ing to it thinking it’s a source of credible information but OPEC allies are watched closely by oil majors getting it’s a source of lies and falsehood.” Saudi Arabia adopts a ready to return to Kuwait after years of fruitless talks strict version of Sunni Islam, including a segregation of the and fierce political opposition to foreign firms taking a sexes, that influences all aspects of life in the Gulf kingdom. role in production in the past. Diplomatic and industry sources said that Kuwait has been placing restrictions on the Saudi unit of US oil major Chevron which operates another jointly run Iraq approves $278 m Neutral Zone field, Wafra, as a result of various disputes. deal with Halliburton The curbs have affected oil output from the Neutral BAGHDAD: Iraq’s cabinet has approved a $278.5 mil- Zone, which dates back to 1920s treaties to establish lion drilling deal with US oil service company Halliburton for the southern West Qurna- 1 oilfield, regional borders. according to a government statement. Under the 30- Output capacity from the Zone has been around month contract, Halliburton is to drill 30 oil wells in 600,000 bpd until last year, according to the US the 8.7-billion-barrel West Qurna Phase One field, Department of Energy. But industry sources say it has operated by US major ExxonMobil, the statement been in decline in recent months even before the Khafji said. Oil production at the West Qurna-1 field is run- shutdown. A Chevron spokesman said the company ning at a rate of 360,000 barrels per day due to prob- complies with the laws and regulations of the countries lems with low levels of water injection, which is need- where it operates, and does not comment on discus- ed to boost production, officials said. Iraq has award- sions it has with governments about its business opera- ed lucrative oilfield development contracts to majors tions. The Saudi’s 60-year concession with Chevron was such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Exxon Mobil with KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah visited Fasial Bander Watban Al- first granted to the US Getty Oil Company in 1949. the ambitious target of expanding its oil production Duwiesh at Farwaniya Hospital yesterday. Amir wished Al-Duwiesh a speedy recovery. — KUNA Continued on Page 13 capacity to 8.5-9 million bpd by 2017. Increasing export capacity is a cornerstone of Iraq’s ambitious plans to revive its oil industry after years of war, eco- nomic sanctions and neglect. Iraq wants to jump into ‘Deport after revoking citizenship’ the top ranks of global oil producers and exporters. Man, woman stoned MP Abdulsamad warns of deficit due to oil price slide to death for adultery By B Izzak mation and news. BEIRUT: A man and a woman have been stoned to death The Council of Ministers invoked this for adultery in separate executions in jihadist-controlled KUWAIT: MP Nabil Al-Fadhl yesterday article to withdraw the citizenship of a areas of Syria, a monitoring group reported yesterday. The called on the government to deport number of opposition figures including man was executed in Idlib province in an area controlled by Islamist groups including the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s people after stripping them of their cit- former MP Abdullah Al-Barghash and official affiliate in Syria, said the Syrian Observatory for izenship especially for reasons of owner of the Al-Youm television and Human Rights, which tracks violence on all sides of Syria’s threatening national security or having Alam Al-Youm newspaper Ahmad Jabr civil war. It is the first documented case of a man being obtained their nationality on false Al-Shemmari and others. Fadhl howev- stoned to death for adultery since Syria descended into civ- information. The lawmaker submitted a er did not say how will the state deport il war in 2011 and hardline Islamic groups emerged as proposal to amend the Nationality Law people who are stateless and to which powerful players in areas that slipped from government of 1959 to make it mandatory on destination because people in a for- control, the Observatory said. The woman was executed in authorities to deport such people, say- eign country can be deported to their Hama province in an area controlled by Islamic State, an Al- ing that they should not be allowed to home countries or to a third country of Qaeda offshoot that has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq stay in the country after committing their choice and which accepts to take and is being targeted by US-led air strikes, the Observatory such crimes. them. said. A video posted online appeared to show her execu- In his amendment, Fadhl proposed In another development, head of tion. A bearded fighter is shown passing down the sen- adding a new item to Article 13 of the National Assembly budgets com- tence in the presence of other gunmen and her father, who Nationality Law to make deporting mittee MP Adnan Abdulsamad warned appears to approve of her execution. Her hands and feet people after revoking their citizenship yesterday that Kuwait’s budget surplus are then tied with a rope and she is forced to kneel in a pit. an obligation rather than a choice. will drop sharply at the end of the cur- Covered head to toe, she begins to pray out loud as large Article 13 deals with revoking citizen- rent fiscal year if oil prices remain at rocks are seen striking her body. The video shows the logo ship of naturalized citizens for obtain- the current level. During the past 15 of Islamic State. ing the citizenship on the basis of false fiscal years, Kuwait posted a budget TIKRIT: A Rafale fighter jet equipped with 4 laser guided bombs GBU-12 flies information or cheating and for threat- surplus and the windfall was massive over Iraq on a reconnaissance mission after taking off from the Al-Dhafra ening national security and national over the past three years. base in the United Arab Emirates. French jets carried out an air strike against Sudan’s president economy by spreading harmful infor- Continued on Page 13 two trucks in the region of Tikrit, successfully destroying their target using 3 seeks re-election laser-guided bombs GBU-12, as part of the ‘Chammal’ operation. — AFP KHARTOUM: Sudan’s ruling party chose President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir yesterday as its candidate for next year’s presidential vote, making it almost certain EU targets UAE firm IS seizes arms airdropped that he will not step aside but extend his rule after 25 years in power. The 70-year-old Bashir, wanted on by US-led coalition forces charges of genocide and war crimes by the and Syria ministers International Criminal Court, had previously indicated BEIRUT: Islamic State group fighters ground, a US-led coalition is also target- he would not run for another term in elections sched- seized at least one cache of weapons air- ing the militants from the air. Yesterday, uled for April 2015. He had also pledged to hold a BRUSSELS: The European Union imposed States in freezing the assets of Pangates sanctions yesterday on 12 Syrian government International Corp Ltd, based in Sharjah in dropped by US-led coalition forces that IS loyalists on social media posted sar- national dialogue before the vote but the few active were meant to supply Kurdish militia- castic thank you notes to the United opposition movements in Sudan seem to have already ministers, two senior military figures and a the UAE, saying it “acts as an intermediary in United Arab Emirates company it accused of the supply of oil to the Syrian regime.” men battling the extremist group in a States, including one image that said lost hope of any change in the political climate.