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on Monday at a major oil refinery , the state-owned oil company said.ÌýNo immediate casualties were reported.Ìý

The blaze at the key Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery along Kuwait's Persian Gulf coastline north of its border with did not impact electrical supply or oil exports, according to Kuwait's National Petroleum Company.

The refinery handles 25,000 barrels of oil a day to supply primarily with gasoline and diesel.

Firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze in the refinery's treatment unit, which removes sulfur from the oil products.

Residents in Kuwait's coastal Fahaheel district reported hearing a large explosion and shared footage of thick, black smoke billowing over the highway.

Kuwait, a nation home to 4.1 million people, is slightly smaller than the

The nation has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves.