KPI Cancels Investment in Refinery, Mulls Sale
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2014 THULHIJA 14, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Firecracker, Morocco mulls Kobane Phelps toy gun-free legal pot ‘about to fall’ suspended for Eid in growing, as fighting 6 months after Kuwait3 breaking7 taboo kills13 hundreds DUI19 arrest KPI cancels investment Max 38º Min 26º in refinery, mulls sale High Tide 11:40 & 23:50 Kuwait buys stake in Canadian shale project Low Tide 05:33 & 18:01 40 PAGES NO: 16306 150 FILS LONDON/AMSTERDAM: Kuwait Petroleum International has cancelled a planned $1.4 billion investment in its 88,000 barrel per day (bpd) Rotterdam refinery and may sell it, a spokesman said, as Europe’s refiners struggle with overcapacity and global competi- tion. “Now we have to look at all other options,” spokesman Jan Maarten van der Steen said on Monday, adding that the company was talking to banks includ- ing HSBC about managing a possible sale. Converting the Europoort refinery to a storage terminal or closing it entirely are possibilities, he said, although adding that closure was “not the option anyone wants”. “It’s also our intention to keep all personnel on board,” he said. “We are working on a new collective labour agreement.” Van der Steen said the company hoped to make a preliminary decision by spring 2015, though emphasis- ing that talks were in early stages. Industry sources said the refinery would have a hard time finding a buyer, giv- en its small size and competitive position relative to much larger refineries in the Rotterdam oil hub and elsewhere in the region. A union source said that con- verting the plant into a terminal would cut the staff to about 80 from around 350. The refinery has been up for sale before, including an abortive 2007 deal in which Lukoil was the rumoured buyer. The aborted investment, which the company had dubbed “Project Orange”, would have added a 38,000 bpd hydrocracker, a new vacuum unit and several stor- age tanks. Separately, Chevron Corp said on Monday it would sell a 30 percent stake in its Canadian oil shale holdings to Kuwait’s state-owned oil company for $1.5 billion. The deal with Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co helps Chevron reduce production risk and gives it more capital to increase drilling in Alberta’s Duvernay shale formation, one of North America’s largest shale deposits. The deal, valued at about $15,000 per acre, boosts land valuations in the region and should help increase drilling, a step that will likely reduce produc- tion costs to about $12 million per well, down from KUWAIT: A fire at an open-air storage yard for scrap metal, plastic materials and garbage containers among other inflammable items was brought under control about $15 million to $20 million currently, analysts at after it broke out early yesterday in Amghara, said a fire department official. The fire covered about 3,000 sq m of the storagerd ya which has a total size of 5,000 sq investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt said in a note to m, said Brig Khalid Al-Mekrad, a deputy director of the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate, in a statement to KUNA. Only material damage occurred, he said, noting that clients. gusts up to 40 km/hour fanned the flames quicker than expected. — By Hanan Al-Saadoun Continued on Page 13 News in brief Hajj selfies spark controversy MINA, Saudi Arabia: Raising his arm, said with a smile. Hotel attacker split Yousef Ali hugs his elderly father in front of The increasingly popular phenome- UAE sisters’ skulls one of Islam’s holiest sites as they grin for a non has sparked controversy among LONDON: An attacker crept into a hotel room and hit three selfie - a craze that hit this year’s hajj. But more conservative Muslims, however, Emirati sisters holidaying in London so hard with a claw ham- not everyone is happy about young pil- with some taking to Twitter to criticise mer that their skulls splintered, a court heard yesterday. Philip grims from around the world constantly pilgrims who take selfies. “When we went Spence, 32, has admitted committing grievous bodily harm snapping “selfies”, photographs taken of for umra in the mid-90s, Dad nearly had against the sisters at the four-star Cumberland Hotel in central one’s self, as they carry out the rites of hajj his camera confiscated to shouts of London on April 6. However he denies three charges of attempted murder and one of conspiracy to commit aggravat- which are the high point of a Muslim’s spir- ‘haram!’ Now, #HajjSelfie is A Thing. What ed burglary and his trial on those counts began yesterday at itual life. From tawaf - circling the holy a world,” wrote one tweeter. Another user London’s Southwark Crown Court. Sisters Ohoud, Khulood Kaaba in Makkah - to prayers atop Mount named Kahwaaa wrote: “It’s a time to con- and Fatima Al-Najjar, from the United Arab Emirates, were Mercy in Arafat, and stoning of the “devil” nect to Allah and purify my soul. #hajj- sharing adjoining rooms in the hotel. The “sustained and in Mina, the key stages of hajj have all selfies selfies shouldn’t be taken.” vicious” attack left all three unconscious, prosecutor Simon been recorded on cameras and smart- But others said the issue was being phones for posterity, and for instant shar- blown out of proportion. “People creating Mayo told jurors. Shuji Nakamura Isamu Akasaki Hiroshi Amano ing through social media. a huge issue about #hajjselfies. If photos Hajj is the one of the world’s largest are allowed during hajj then what is GSK probing graft religious gatherings. It has attracted over wrong with selfies?,” asked Abdul Mufeez allegations in UAE LED lamp wins Nobel two million believers this year. “As this is Shaheed. Nothing at all, says Ali’s father LONDON: Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, which was my first pilgrimage, it is important for me Mohammed Ali, 65. “A person taking such slapped with a record $489 million fine for corruption in for Japanese trio to document all the events taking place pictures is documenting a rare event”, a China last month, said yesterday it was looking into alle- around me,” Ali, 24, told AFP, snapping a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many gations of corruption in the United Arab Emirates. picture of himself with a green sign read- Muslims, he said, wearing a traditional Britain’s biggest pharmaceuticals group confirmed the STOCKHOLM: Three Japanese-born To recreate the white light of the Sun, ing “Big Jamarah”, which refers to a wall white robe. “This is a symbolic place rep- investigation following allegations of improper payments researchers yesterday won the Nobel Prize red, green and blue need to be mixed. Red set out in a whistleblower’s email sent to its top manage- for Physics for inventing the LED lamp, a and green diodes had been around for a where Muslims ritually stone Satan. resenting history,” Mohammed Ali added, ment on Monday. The company is already investigating boon in the fight against global warming long time, but devising a blue LED was the “Wherever I go, I take pictures, especially pointing to the three sites which pilgrims alleged bribery in a number of Middle East countries, and aiding people in poverty. The trio are Holy Grail - and achieving it took three since nowadays we have these little cam- began stoning on Saturday at the start of including Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, as well as Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji long decades. The breakthrough came in eras... that offer a full view of the area,” the the Eid al-Adha feast of sacrifice, which is Poland. The anonymous author of the email - purportedly Nakamura, who has since become a US the 1990s when the three researchers, bearded Kuwaiti, casually dressed in celebrated by Muslims worldwide. a GSK sales manager in the Gulf state - claimed that the national. “This year’s Nobel Laureates are after dogged work, coaxed bright blue sweatpants and a pair of trendy sandals, Continued on Page 13 British company made direct payments to healthcare pro- rewarded for having invented a new ener- beams from lab semiconductors. “They fessionals, hospitals, clinics and pharmacies to secure gy-efficient and environment-friendly succeeded where everyone else had business. This included payments for educational meet- light source - the blue light-emitting diode failed,” the jury declared. “With the advent ings - regardless of whether or not they took place - as (LED),” the jury said. “Their inventions were of LED lamps we now have more long-last- well as schemes to pay customers for taking prescription revolutionary,” it said. “Incandescent light ing and more efficient alternatives to older drugs by giving them bonus over-the-counter products, bulbs lit the 20th century. The 21st century light sources.” the author said. will be lit by LED lamps.” Continued on Page 13 UK lifts immunity of Bahraini prince LONDON: A British judge yesterday said Bahrain’s Prince Affleck defends Muslims Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa did not have legal immunity from WASHINGTON: Hollywood A-lister Ben who claimed that 20 percent of the prosecution following a review requested by a Bahraini tor- ture survivor. “It’s a victory for the people of Bahrain,” Sayed Al- Affleck has delivered a spirited defense world’s Muslims are either jihadists or Wadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights of Muslims worldwide on a TV talk Islamists, according to “a bunch of poll and Democracy campaign group, told AFP after the hearing. show hosted by a fellow liberal with lit- results”.