Despite its relatively small size, Kuwait is one of the world’s top exporters of oil, with over 2.6 million barrels per day exported in 2007. Kuwait's economy is heavily dependent on oil export revenues which account for roughly 90 percent of total export earnings. Kuwait channels around 10 percent of its oil revenues into the "Future Generations Fund" for the day when oil income runs out. The bulk of this reserve is generally invested in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

The Kuwaiti constitution forbids foreign ownership of Kuwait's mineral resources. The Kuwaiti Parliament passed the “Foreign Direct Investment Act” in 2001, aimed at promoting foreign investment in Kuwait’s oil and gas sectors, which facilitated some development in Kuwait’s oil and gas sectors. However, major projects such as Project Kuwait remain at a standstill due to disagreements between Parliament and the ruling Al-Sabah family.