KUWAIT: A fire at Kuwait's 200,000 barrel-per-day Shuaiba oil refinery yesterday which led to its total shutdown was not the result of a terrorist act, the country's spokesperson for the oil industry said in a statement. Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah said that any talk of a link to terrorism was, "completely devoid of any truth." The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The fire led to the refinery's total shutdown but there were no casualties, an official at state refiner Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said. Ahmed Al-Jemaz, acting chief executive, said in a statement on the company's Twitter account that a fire at the heavy oil cracking unit at Kuwait's smallest refinery had been brought under control.

"No injuries were recorded so far. All the refinery's units have been shut down and all employees were evacuated as a precautionary measure," Jemaz said in a statement. He said firefighters and emergency teams were on high alert. A KNPC source said because of refined products in storage, the country's exports deals would not be affected by the shutdown. It was too early to say when Shuaiba would be back to full operations and authorities would investigate the cause of the fire, the source said.

An industry source had said earlier that there was an explosion at Shuaiba. OPEC member Kuwait has three refineries with a combined capacity of 930,000 bpd. The ageing coastal Shuaiba refinery in southern Kuwait, commissioned in 1968, is due to be mothballed after the new 615,000-bpd Al-Zour refinery comes on line by 2019. Shuaiba refinery produces light, medium and heavy products, including gas, ordinary naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, fuel oil and diesel. Shuaiba produces around 2 million tons of gasoil and another 2 million tons of jet fuel, another industry source said, adding that while he did not expect much impact on gasoil exports, supplies of jet fuel could be disrupted.

Last July, Kuwait announced that it had awarded four contracts worth a combined $11.5 billion (10.3 billion euros) to international consortiums for the construction of a 615,000 bpd oil refinery. Last year, Kuwait awarded tenders for a project worth $12 billion (10.8 billion euros) to upgrade the Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries. When that work is completed by around 2018 and the new refinery is built, Kuwait's refining capacity will increase from the current 930,000 bpd to 1.4 million bpd. Kuwait says it is home to 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves and is pumping 2.8 million bpd.- Agencies