Messila coast hit by oil spill, second in a week

Authorities clueless on source of new oil slick

KUWAIT: Authorities yesterday reported a second oil slick off the state’s shores days after saying another large spill was under control. The new slick was spotted some 60 km north of the first spill, tweeted Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Sabah, spokesman for national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC). The Environment Public Authority said the latest spill near the Officers’ Club off the Messila coast is about 1.6 km long, adding it is coordinating with the oil sector, coastguards and the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) to rid the seawaters of the new oil spill.

Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouq announced that Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has moved a number of its vessels to the Messila coast to control the new oil spill. KOC vessels and Kuwait Fire Service frigates will survey the surrounding areas for other oil spills, Marzouq, also minister of electricity and water, told KUNA yesterday. He added that contacts are being made with neighboring countries to inquire about any oil leakage or any information that could be related to the new oil spill.

Marzouq noted that Kuwait is carrying out aerial and sea surveys of the territorial waters as well as contacting international environmental organizations to get satellite images of the area over the past few days in order to collect information that could lead to identifying the source of this spill. He admitted that the ministry does not currently possess any information regarding the source of the spill.

Private environmental group Kuwait Green Line said yesterday that new oil slicks had been spotted and the spill was spreading. Last week, a large oil spill hit Kuwait’s southern coast near Saudi Arabia and close to the joint Saudi-Kuwaiti offshore oilfield at Al-Khafji. Oil officials had said emergency workers managed to clean up most of the spill and that the situation was under control.

Precautionary measures were taken around vital installations in Al-Zour where a huge $30-billion oil complex including a 615,000-barrel-per-day refinery is being built. The area also has two power and water desalination plants which were declared safe from contamination. The source of the crude spill has not yet been determined but officials said samples were sent abroad for examination.

Kuwaiti media on Sunday quoted local oil experts as saying the spill came from an old 50-km-long pipeline from Al-Khafji. The experts estimated that as many as 35,000 barrels of crude may have leaked into the waters off Al-Zour. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, located south of Kuwait along the Gulf coast, said slicks from the spill had not reached their waters. The KPC said teams from Saudi Arabian Chevron and Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) had joined the coastal clean-up operations. OPEC member Kuwait pumps around 2.7 million barrels per day of crude oil, providing around 85 percent of its public revenues. — Agencies