Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has seized operations at its 200,000 barrel-per-day Al-Shuaiba oil refinery located within the Shuaiba Industrial Area, following a fire breakout.
KNPC acting CEO Ahmed Al Jemaz was quoted by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) as saying that a gas leakage in one of the refinery’s fully contained pipes has led to the mishap.
Firefighters and emergency teams are said to have brought the fire under control at the heavy oil cracking unit of the refinery, which is located about 50km south of Kuwait City.
The company said that an investigation will be carried out by a committee to determine the cause of the accident, which did not lead to any casualties.
Apart from closing all of the refinery’s units, KNPC also evacuated all employees as a precautionary measure, reported MenaFN.comDetails of when the refinery would resume operations currently remain undisclosed.
A KNPC source told Reuters that the closure will not affect exports deals of the country due to the stored refined products.
Commissioned in 1968, the Al-Shuaiba refinery produces light, medium and heavy products, including gas, ordinary naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil and diesel.
The refinery is planned to be decommissioned and be replaced with new 615,000-b/d Al Zour refinery by 2019.