On Monday, the Kuwait Oil Company declared a “state of emergency” following the oil spill on land, but said no damages or disturbance to production had been reported.
The emergency followed an “oil leak in the west of the country”, the state-owned company said in a statement, as the video posted by Kuwaiti media showed an overflowing pipe encircled by a large slick of oil.
Qusai al-Amer, the company spokesman said No injuries have occurred as a result of the leak and production has not been affected was quoted as saying, adding that no toxic fumes have been reported. The leak “appeared on land but not in a residential area”, he later told AFP.
Teams have been dispatched to specify the origin of the leak and include the incident, Al-Amer said, denying giving the collapse’s actual location.
Kuwait’s Al Rai newspaper released a video on Twitter showing a pipe spraying large amounts of oil onto barren land. AFP could not independently confirm the footage. Kuwait is a significant oil-producing country where nearly 90 percent of state revenues come from oil.
The fundamental member within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is currently producing about 2.7 million barrels per day.
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 a few days.
