A power failure which shut down Kuwait's three oil refineries has been fixed and operations are being gradually restored, an oil industry official said.
'Power has been restored. We have started measures to restore operations gradually,' Kuwait National Petroleum Company spokesman Ahmed Muzail said.
'We hope this will not take more than one day,' he said, pointing out that operations 'are being restored unit-by-unit,' he added.
Muuzail said earlier that the shutdown was caused 'after a power substation feeding the three refineries suddenly stopped, around 10:00 am (0700 GMT).' He said however that 'exports are not going to be affected since we have enough reserves”.
The three refineries have a combined capacity of 920,000 barrels per day, 80 per cent of which is for export. Muzail also stressed that the power failure was not due a terrorist attack.
'It was a result of a short circuit. There was no sabotage,' he said.
The power failure was the latest incident to plague Kuwait's oil industry in recent years. Only last month, a fire sparked by a gas pipeline blast caused a partial disruption at Shuaiba refinery, which has a production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day. A similar explosion and fire had hit the same refinery in November last year, which rendered it out of operation for two weeks. In June 2000, a gas leak explosion at Al Ahmadi -- the country's largest refinery -- killed seven people and injured 50.
In the same month, two technicians were killed and four injured by a gas leak at Shuaiba. OPEC member Kuwait sits on about 10 per cent of the world's oil reserves and currently produces around 2.4 million bpd, some 40 per cent of which is in refined products.
'Power has been restored. We have started measures to restore operations gradually,' Kuwait National Petroleum Company spokesman Ahmed Muzail said.
'We hope this will not take more than one day,' he said, pointing out that operations 'are being restored unit-by-unit,' he added.
Muuzail said earlier that the shutdown was caused 'after a power substation feeding the three refineries suddenly stopped, around 10:00 am (0700 GMT).' He said however that 'exports are not going to be affected since we have enough reserves”.
The three refineries have a combined capacity of 920,000 barrels per day, 80 per cent of which is for export. Muzail also stressed that the power failure was not due a terrorist attack.
'It was a result of a short circuit. There was no sabotage,' he said.
The power failure was the latest incident to plague Kuwait's oil industry in recent years. Only last month, a fire sparked by a gas pipeline blast caused a partial disruption at Shuaiba refinery, which has a production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day. A similar explosion and fire had hit the same refinery in November last year, which rendered it out of operation for two weeks. In June 2000, a gas leak explosion at Al Ahmadi -- the country's largest refinery -- killed seven people and injured 50.
In the same month, two technicians were killed and four injured by a gas leak at Shuaiba. OPEC member Kuwait sits on about 10 per cent of the world's oil reserves and currently produces around 2.4 million bpd, some 40 per cent of which is in refined products.
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