WORLD> Middle East
Explosion kills 1 at Kuwait oil refinery
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-11 16:48

KUWAIT CITY -- A Kuwaiti oil official says a small explosion at one of the country's oil refineries has killed one Asian worker and injured another. Production was not affected.

Basil al-Dabbous, spokesman for the state-owned Kuwait National Petroleum Company, says Monday's blast at the Shuaiba refinery was an accident that took place during routine maintenance. He says the injured man is in stable condition.

Al-Dabbous says the refinery's production of 200,000 barrels a day was not affected.

Shuaiba is the smallest of Kuwait's three refineries. Oil is the mainstay of the tiny Gulf country's economy.