State-run Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) appointed a new chief executive and suspended other top officials after the country paid $2.2 billion in damages to Dow Chemical Co over a scrapped plastics joint venture.
Nizar Mohammad al-Asani replaced Farouk Zanki as CEO at the oil firm and the cabinet approved the nomination of six board members, a statement on state news agency KUNA said. Newspaper al-Rai said that two of the board members were new.
The government also suspended officials at KPC unit Petrochemical Industries Co. which pulled out of the $17.4 billion K-Dow petrochemical venture in December 2008, citing the deteriorating global economy. It did not give details.
The chief executive of KPC holds a seat on Kuwait's Supreme Petroleum Council, which sets oil policy. Kuwaiti newspapers reported on Sunday that other KPC members of the council had been replaced, without giving details.
K-Dow was a politically sensitive deal in major oil exporter Kuwait and came under scrutiny in parliament, where lawmakers often clash with the government, especially over large state investments.
Also Read
-
Kuwaiti anger at Dow Chemical $2.2bn penalty payment
Kuwaiti politicians and media fumed Wednesday over $2.2 billion paid to U.S. giant Dow Chemical as a penalty for the Gulf emirate scrapping a joint ... Energy -
Bridging the Gulf: where Kuwait stands on the GCC Union
In February of last year, Ahmed al-Saadoun, Kuwait’s speaker of the parliament at the time dismissed the idea of a Gulf Union. In an interview ... Bridging The Gulf -
Kuwait says owed $11.2 billion in Iraq war reparations
Kuwait has received $2.43 billion in war reparations from Iraq since the start of the year and is still owed another $11.2 billion, a senior official ... Middle East
