Kuwait: oil on troubled waters

An offshore oil spill in the Neutral Zone could complicate efforts to restart Kuwaiti-Saudi production

Kuwait hasn't said how the spillage at Ras al-Zour occurred or how much oil lies on the northern waters of the Gulf and the nearby shore. But the development is an embarrassment for the emirate—in part because its energy sector has been dogged by accidents over recent years and partly because it occurred near the Khafji oilfield. This is run by Khafji Joint Operations, a joint venture comprising the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) and Aramco Gulf Operations Company on behalf of Saudi Arabia. The spillage was also close to where Kuwait is building its massive al-Zour oil refinery, which will have capacity of 0.615m barrels a day. Khafji used to produce 300,000 b/d, shared equally by the two pa