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Kuwait state oil company announces state of emergency following oil leak

January 24, 2017 at 2:00 am

The state-run Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) announced a state of emergency on Sunday following an oil leak in the southwest of the country, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported, quoting a company spokesman.

Menahi Al-Enezi, KOC’s deputy chief executive officer for administrative and financial affairs, said that the emergency teams were at the site of the leak and were responding to the situation in accordance with the relevant protocol.

El-Enezi added that the team in working to secure the well and that no reading of toxic gas was detected, according to KUNA. The agency did not provide details about how many barrels of oil had been spilled.

He has anticipated that the full control of the well will be completed within few coming hours.

On the same move, Kuwait’s Environmental Public Authority (EPA) has dispatched a team to monitor air quality at the leak’s scene.

In an official statement on Sunday, the EPA’s Director General, Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad Al-Sabah, said that there was no increase in pollution levels in the Al Maqwa area where the leak had occurred, adding that the authority is in close contact with the company to follow the developments, Al-Sabah noted.

Sheikh Abdullah noted that north-westerly wind would help in dispersing the gas emitted from the leaked areas, “There is no reason to worry until now”, he reiterated, urging the public to chase the updates from the official sources.

Kuwait Oil Company, which falls under the umbrella of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), is one of the main factors affecting Kuwait’s economic growth. It is one of the world’s largest petroleum companies that work in the fields of oil exploration, drilling and production.

OPEC member Kuwait is a major oil producer. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Kuwait produces some 2.7 million barrels of crude oil a day and holds the world’s sixth-largest oil reserves.

In August, Kuwait announced a spill at its Ahmadi field. A February fire struck another oil well after a spill.