The Kuwaiti news agency KUNA has reported that the Kuwait Oil Company has set fire to one of its wells in the huge Rawdatin oil field to the north of Kuwait City in an attempt to reduce the amount of poisonous gas leaking into the air.
Yesterday residents from as far as 100 kilometres away started to report smelling the pungent bad-egg odour of the very poisonous gas, hydrogen sulphide.
Health officials told residents to stay inside and seal all windows and doors, and some local neighbourhoods were evacuated as a precaution.
The Kuwait Oil Company also evacuated workers from other wells close to the leak just as a safeguard.
The fire has helped to keep the concentration of the gas in the air low, and Sami Rashaid, managing director of the oil company, assured that "the concentration of hydrogen sulfide gas in the leakage is too low to cause any harm. Only a high concentration of this gas could pose risk to health."
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More