San Ramon's Chevron Helping Clean Kuwait Oil Spill (Photos)

SAN RAMON, CA — Chevron, based in San Ramon, California, near San Francisco, is helping to clean an oil spill off the southern coast of Kuwait that stained beaches, threatened power plants and water stations, and left long black slicks in the Persian Gulf.

It's unclear where the spill originated, but Kuwait says it doesn't appear the spill came from its oil fields. Authorities wouldn't estimate how many barrels of oil spilled, though footage from Kuwait's Environment Public Authority showed oil tarring the beaches and in the waters near Ras al-Zour. Officials are investigating the spill.

"There will be severe consequences to those responsible for this incident, and we will prosecute them," Sheikh Abdullah al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family who is head of the Environment Public Authority, told The Associated Press. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Al-Sabah urged residents to stay away from affected areas, which lie north of a private beach and resort area where beach homes serve as a summer getaway for many Kuwaitis.

Boats and crews put booms into the water to contain the spill. Officials want to protect waterways, power plants and water facilities first, then clean surrounding beaches, according to a report on the state-run KUNA news agency.

Kuwait said Chevron and containment specialists Oil Spill Response Limited were helping in the cleanup. Chevron operates fields on both sides of the border. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Khaled al-Hajeri, the president of Kuwait's Green Line Society, said the environmental non-profit organization holds the government responsible for any damage or health effects of the spill.

"The government failed to issue a statement communicating the severity of this disaster. There was no warning people against fishing or entering the polluted area, even though it is close to some of the most popular summer destinations in Kuwait," he told the AP. "This is what happens when under-qualified individuals handle the government's most sensitive environment entity."

Al-Hajeri said the spill began days ago and that activists from his group informed authorities about it on August 10.

"This media blackout is intentional, and wrong. People have the right to know. This will have an impact on the fish, the food people consume, and it directly affects their health and safety," he added.

Authorities in neighboring Saudi Arabia have put an emergency action plan into effect to deal with the spill and were conducting an aerial survey of the area, according to a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The joint operations center in the Saudi border town of Khafji said facilities there have not been affected by the spill.

The area in Kuwait is home to the oil and natural gas fields shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Some of those fields famously were set ablaze by Iraqi forces retreating from a U.S.-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War that ended Saddam Hussein's occupation of the country.

Tiny Kuwait, an OPEC member nation, has the world's six-largest estimated oil reserves.

By HUSSAIN AL-QATARI, Associated Press

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Photos credit: Kuwait Environment Public Authority via AP; Alan Diaz/Associated Press