Kuwait giant declares ‘emergency’ after oil spill in the western region. No injuries or disruption to production reported but news images show major leak.
Event Location
Kuwait, Kuwait
Start Time
24 March 2023, 12:00 AM
End Time
30 April 2023, 12:00 AM
State-owned Kuwait Oil Company has declared what it calls a state of emergency following an onshore oil spill incident in the country’s western region.
The emergency followed an "oil leak in the west of the country", the state-owned company said in a statement, as video posted by Kuwaiti media showed a gushing pipe surrounded by a large slick of oil.
"No injuries have occurred as a result of the leak and production has not been affected," company spokesman Qusai Al-Amer was quoted as saying, adding that no toxic fumes have been reported.
The leak "occurred on land but not in a residential area", he later told AFP.
Kuwait’s own Al Rai newspaper released a video on Twitter showing a pipe gushing oil, although Upstream could not independently verify the footage.
A Kuwait Oil spokesperson noted that the company has dispatched teams to deal with the incident according to emergency spill response procedures.
Further details regarding the oil spill have not yet been shared by the company.
The Kuwait Oil Company has previously reported oil leaks in its fields in 2020 and 2016.
In 2017, Kuwaiti authorities reported two slicks off the Gulf's state's shores over the span of a few days.
Kuwait Oil spill emergency
