Kuwait Oil Company declares state of emergency over oil spill

The state oil company Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) declared this Monday a state of emergency over an oil spill in the west of the country, although it assured that the incident did not cause victims or toxic gases.

“KOC announces that the company has declared a state of emergency due to an oil spill in the west of the country… administrative affairs, Qusay al Amer.

Although he did not specify the size or cause of the spill, al Amer sent a reassuring message by stating on the official Twitter account of the Kuwaiti company that “there were no victims” and “no toxic gases were detected at the scene of the incident”.

“The competent KOC teams are on site and are responding to the incident in accordance with the procedures followed by the company (…) We will keep you informed of the evolution” of the situation, he added.

KOC, one of the world’s leading oil producers, is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Institution, and is the only company authorized to manage oil and gas exploration and production operations in the Gulf state.

The latest incident in Kuwait occurred two years ago when a fire broke out at the Burgan oilfield in the south-east of the country, injuring two people.