06/26 - Kuwait's Oil Minister Resigns Over an Explosion that Killed 5 and Injured 49

The Associated Press has reported Kuwait's oil minister said Monday he had resigned over an explosion that killed five workers at the largest of the country's three oil refineries.

Sunday's early morning blast, caused by a gas leak, injured 49 in addition to the five killed at the Mina al-Ahmedi refinery, located about 25 miles south of Kuwait City.

"Although I'm not criminally responsible ... my political responsibility drove me to put my resignation this morning before his highness the emir,'' Sheik Saud Nasser Al Sabah said in parliament.

The oil minister added that top oil officials, including those overseeing the state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Co. that owns and runs Kuwait's three refineries, also had submitted their resignations.

Al Sabah told reporters Sunday that damage was extensive and some units might not be operational for months.

The refinery produced gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and other fuels for export and the domestic market.

Al Sabah said foreign customers could be given crude as a substitute for refined products for which they had contracted.

Though crude would keep flowing, analyst Manouchehr Takin said the psychological impact of Kuwait's troubles would likely mean even higher fuel prices in the United States and elsewhere.

"Because of low world inventories and because prices are already high and because the oil market is already tight ... there is no room for a shortage or a cut in supply,'' said Takin, a senior oil analyst at the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies.

Crude exports from the port complex could resume immediately and stored products could meet domestic needs for two weeks, KNPC Managing Director Sami al-Rshaid said.

Mina al-Ahmedi employs 1,450 people and has a capacity of 444,000 barrels per day. It was built in 1948 with renovations in 1984 and 1986; Sunday's fire broke out in the old part of the facility.

The national oil company also owns and operates the Mina Abdullah refinery with a capacity of 263,000 barrels per day and the Shuaiba refinery with a capacity of around 200,000 barrels per day.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last week to boost production by 708,000 barrels a day, but industry analysts said it would do little to help U.S. drivers. Kuwait is a member of OPEC.