"We must not miss these golden opportunities...We have missed opportunities in the past and Kuwait was the victim," said Sheikhh Saud Nasser al-Sabah, adding that other regional oil states have opened their petroleum sectors to foreign firms.

"I hope that discussing this issue is not prolonged and that we move ahead. Let us do something...previous opportunities were blocked because of hesitation, making vital economic issues a political matter. Please do not politicise this," he said.

He was speaking at a seminar at the Kuwait Journalists' Association on Tuesday night of controversial plans to open fields to oil majors to develop reserves that are slightly less than 10 percent of proven world oil reserves.

Sheikhh Saud said Kuwait wants to open its northern oilfields to majors, whichcould invest $7 billion to double their output to 900,000 barrels per day. He did not give a price tag for the second stage of the plan to offer fields in the West of Kuwait.

"We cannot remain in our place; we must move ahead and forget these sensitivities and these side issues...We must not abort this opportunity for political reasons," he said.

Kuwait's constitution bans foreign ownership of natural resources. MPs have presented a draft law aimed at controlling moves to open upstream oil operations, or oil exploration and production, to foreign firms.

"Regret for previously lost opportunities is the norm...If these (foreign) firms find that there is bickering in Kuwait, they are not in need for us. Let us know our size; one of these firms has assets larger than Kuwait's ...

"If they find they will enter into domestic problems and an economic issue becomes politicised, they do not want to (come)," he said, in an appeal to parliamentarians.

Al-Mujtama'a Islamist weekly said in an article attackingSheikhh Saud on Tuesday: "... the Minister has divided the Kuwaiti oilfields among foreign firms," accusing him of violating the constitution.

But the sheikhh said: "We have not even reached the negotiations stage...I stress that there were no obligations made by Kuwait and there were no promises and nothing has been signed." He added that Kuwait was offering operations services accords and not production- sharing deals.

The weekly said a British Petroleum-Exxon consortium was earmarked to operate the Raudhatain and Sabriya fields, while Ratga and Abdaly fields, also in the North, would go to a consortium led by Philips. On December 31, BP completed its acquisition of U.S.-Based Amoco to become a new company known as BP Amoco. The US Federal Trade Commission is reviewing a proposed merger of Exxon Corp, based in Irving, Texas, with Mobil Corp, of Fairfax, Virginia, to create the world's largest company, in terms of revenue.

Minagish field would go to Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Umm Gudair, also in theWest, was earmarked for a Chevron Corp-Texaco Inc consortium, the weekly added.

But the minister reiterated that he and a technical team met in recent weeks in the United States and Britain with representatives of oil majors to "present the Kuwait project.

"What happened is that we presented the project to all international oil firms to know what they think about our inclination," he added. "We have huge reserves and fields, which need (foreign technology) to further develop them."

International hopes for a role in Kuwait's upstream operations, including interests of French firms, were renewed in mid-1997 when Kuwait gave approval in Principle to foreign participation, a major policy change after nationalising the domestic oil sector in 1980.

He said the second stage would involve prequalifying interested firms, to be followed with a request for proposals for deals that will run for 20 to 25 years to allow partners to gain from their investments.

The investors will pay for a new oil export terminalat Bubiyan Island, build a new city in the North for employees, and lift oil production from the area upon a request from Kuwait.

"Kuwait will not pay one cent to develop these fields," the Minister said. "One of the Kuwaiti conditions is for these foreign firms to pledge buying, at any time they are asked (by Kuwait), the output from these fields at prevailing prices...."

Kuwait plans to raise its production capacity in the next few years to three million barrels per day from a current level of some 2.5 million bpd, with emphasis on northern fields and reducing output from the Burgan field -- the country's largest.