Kuwait Oil Company declares state of emergency over oil leak

A state of emergency was declared by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp, following an oil spill that occurred on Monday in the country.

Qusai Al-Amer, deputy CEO for Administrative Affairs and spokesperson of KOC, said in a statement that the company had declared a state of emergency, following an oil spill on land in the west of the country.

Al-Amer revealed that there were no injuries resulting from the leak and the production was not affected, adding that no toxic gases were detected at the accident site.

Al-Amer said the emergency teams in KOC were taking necessary procedures to contain the accident at the site.

In 2018, KOC announced that it had controlled an onshore oil leak at the al-Maqwa field in the south of the country.

Kuwait is a major oil-producing country, with nearly 90 per cent of government revenues coming from oil export.

As a founder member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Kuwait is producing about 2.7 million barrels of oil per day.