Kuwait Shuaiba oil refinery shut after blast

Kuwait, Nov 4: Kuwait shut down its 200,000 barrel-per-day Shuaiba oil refinery after a blast at the plant today, but there were no casualties, a spokesman at Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC) said.

A fire was blazing at the 25,000-bpd residue, or heavy oil, processing unit in Shuaiba refinery, the country's smallest, spokesman Mohammad al-Ajmi added.

''There was an explosion in one of the lines of the heavy oil unit and it resulted in a fire,'' he told Reuters. ''There are no casualties.'' Ajmi said fire fighters and emergency teams were still trying to extinguish the fire.

''The whole refinery is shut down and it is being evacuated according to the safety procedures,'' he said.

It was not immediately known how long the coastal refinery in southern Kuwait would remain shut down.

Shuaiba refinery produces light, medium and heavy products, including gas, ordinary naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil and diesel, according to KNPC's Web site. It said the majority of the refinery products are exported to world markets.

The official news agency KUNA said authorities would investigate the cause of the blast.

Gulf OPEC producer Kuwait has a total crude distillation capacity of up to 930,000 bpd from three refineries.

On Nov 1, KNPC shut down two crude units at its second-largest refinery, the 270,000 bpd Mina Abdullah plant, for routine maintenance. Officials said this maintenance meant ''the entire refinery is almost shut'' and would last for 10 days.

REUTERS