KUWAIT (Reuters) -- Kuwait's plans to raise its oil output capacity would be hindered if lawmakers did not approve a plan to have foreign firms help develop the country's northern fields, an official said in remarks published on Sunday.

""Delaying this project comes at a cost ... (in terms of) raising capacity to the desired level,"" Khaled Boodai, head of the financial committee of the Supreme Petroleum Council, Kuwait's top oil decision body, told Al-Wasat newspaper.
Kuwait plans to boost its crude oil output capacity to 4 million barrels per day by 2020. The plan relies in part on the multibillion-dollar plan called Kuwait Project, which has long met resistance from parliament as MPs argued it might allow foreign firms to dominate the country's oil wealth.
Boodai said Kuwait would eventually have to pull the plug on the long-delayed project if it was not launched ""in the next few years"".
""If it did not see the light of the day in the next few years then it would effectively terminated.""
Three years ago, OPEC-member Kuwait estimated the cost of the project at $8.5 billion. It has asked investment bank Morgan Stanley and Lazard to review the scheme.
Several oil majors have been awaiting approval of the plan to compete for a role. Boodai also said Kuwait was looking at investment opportunities in India, Pakistan, China, and Arab countries.