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Report: Kuwaiti Oil Minister To Resign Over Oil Plant Blast
KUWAIT CITY, Feb. 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Kuwaiti Oil Minister Adel al-Sebeih said Saturday he would resign over an explosion at an oil plant that left four people dead, but took a departing swipe at the government for failing to support him, news agencies reported.
In a press conference, Sebeih said he was touched by the death toll and that he will hand in his resignation to Crown Prince and Premier Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah later in the day, reported AFP.
"I have a feeling it will be accepted," he said adding, “If the atmosphere was more professional ... and people worked together ... I wouldn't resign.”
"In order to meet my objective, I need huge support from the government and parliament ... fixing up the oil industry would need an aggressive policy. If the political atmosphere was different I wouldn't have resigned," the minister stressed, adding, "I have not been pressured."
He said the political environment was "tough and stiff and, based on this, it is better to resign".
Kuwait's oil production fell by 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) following the explosion that rocked the state-owned Kuwait Oil Company's (KOC) oil-gathering center 15 after midnight (2100 GMT) Thursday.
KOC director Ahmad al-Arbid told a news conference the blast knocked out electricity at northern oilfields "and production fell by 600,000 barrels," although crude exports had not been affected.
But Nader Sultan, deputy chairman and CEO of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), said the emirate could not meet its LPG contracts after the blast.
"We are declaring a force majeure on LPG exports. We are telling our clients that for reasons beyond our control, we cannot meet our contracts but we are working on ways to compensate you," he told the news conference.
Arbid said Kuwait was trying to compensate for the output loss by drawing on reserves in two storage tanks, one south of Al-Ahmadi, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Kuwait City, and the other to the north of Al-Ahmadi, where the country's main refinery is located.
Production had already been raised at the Burgan oilfield south of the capital and in the emirate's western oilfields, according to the oil officials.
Arbid said the fire, which broke out at the plant early Friday had for the most part been extinguished, but "there are only small pockets of fire which may have even been extinguished by now."
Sebeih said the shortfall would be made up from stockpiles. "The size of Kuwait's stockpile is 14 million barrels. This is enough to cover the shortage for 18-25 days," he told reporters.
Four people, including three Indians, were killed and 19 injured in the explosion and subsequent fires that raged throughout Friday and destroyed over half the center in northern Kuwait.
Sebeih, who reported no early evidence of sabotage, told Kuwaiti Newspaper Al-Watan, he accepted being "politically responsible for life and material losses" caused by the accident, and added that he will not wait for the end of the investigation.
"The explosion and the fire places a heavy political burden on me, and I strongly feel it is time to take a decision," the minister added.
The plant is located in the al-Rawdhatain region, some 50 to 60 kilometers (30 to 40 miles) south of Kuwait's border with Iraq.
OPEC-member Kuwait currently has a production quota of 1.741 million bpd after it was slashed by 120,000 bpd on January 1.
However, it was not clear whether Sebeih’s resignation would be accepted, reported BBC’s online news service.
After a refinery fire in June 2000 that killed five people, the then Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Saud al-Sabah offered his resignation, but it was rejected, the BBC added.
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