Kuwait Oil Company Announces State Of Emergency After Oil Leak

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has declared a state of emergency after oil leaked in southwestern Kuwait on Sunday, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reports, quoting a company spokesman.

Menahi Al-Enezi, who is also acting deputy chief executive officer for administrative and financial affairs, said that emergency teams were at the site of the leak and were dealing with the situation as per protocol.

No reading of toxic gases has been detected, Al-Enezi said in a press statement, as quoted by Kuwait News Agency.

The news agency also quoted today a statement by the head of the local Environment Public Authority, Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad Al-Sabah, who said that there was no increase in pollution levels in the Al Maqwa area where the leak had occurred. The environment authority is in close contact with the Kuwait Oil Company to follow the developments, Al-Sabah noted.

Kuwait, which is a major oil producer and OPEC member, said in early January that it had reduced oil production this month to around 2.707 million barrels per day, in line with the targeted amount under the OPEC output cut agreement. Kuwait agreed in November to cut output by 131,000 bpd, starting on January 1. This figure is down from its October baseline production of 2.838 million bpd, and down from December’s 2.9 million bpd in production, news agencies cited industry sources as saying.

According to industry analysts and media reports, Kuwait – together with Saudi Arabia and Algeria – has cut more of its output than promised under the OPEC deal.

Kuwait’s oil minister Essam al-Marzouq said on January 15 that the cuts could be even more: 146,000 bpd-148,000 bpd.

“Our part of the cut is 133,000. Today I was told that we dropped by 6,000 more, and we might drop to 146,000 to 148,000,” the minister said on TV, as reported by Reuters.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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