OPEC member Kuwait will increase its oil output by 300,000 barrels per day starting mid-2009, the official state news agency KUNA reported, citing Oil Minister Mohammad Al-Olaim.

Olaim "affirmed... that Kuwait is capable of increasing its oil output (currently) but wondered if the market needed that increase", KUNA reported.

Kuwait will spend $55 billion on oil projects over the coming five years, Olaim said without specifying whether the money would be allocated for production capacity expansion or other projects.