Kuwait Petroleum International, often referred to by its trademark Q8 (pronounced Que-Eight, or Kuwait), refines and markets fuel,

lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

s and other

petroleum product Petroleum products are materials derived from crude oil (petroleum) as it is processed in oil refineries. Unlike petrochemicals, which are a collection of well-defined usually pure organic compounds, petroleum products are complex mixtures. The m ...

s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Established in 1983, it is the international subsidiary of

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Kuwait Petroleum Corporation ( ar, مؤسسة البترول الكويتية) is Kuwait's national oil company, headquartered in Kuwait City. The activities of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) are focused on petroleum exploration, produc ...

. It supplies 4,000 retail

filling station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoli ...

s, as well as direct sales operations delivering fuel and

heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers use for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often a ...

to domestic and industrial users. Q8 also operates an International Diesel Service (IDS) - a secure

fuel card A fuel card or fleet card is used as a payment card most commonly for gasoline, diesel, and other fuels at gas stations. Fleet cards can also be used to pay for vehicle maintenance and expenses at the discretion of the fleet owner or manager. Mo ...

service supported by automated technology for international road transportation companies - in more than 700 located sites throughout Europe. Q8 also has a significant aviation business marketing

jet fuel Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...

at more than 40 airports worldwide and a lubricants business with five lubricants blending plants, direct sales and marketing activities across Europe and export sales to over 75 countries worldwide.

History

* 1938 Discovery of oil in Kuwait * 1975

Nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of oil wells in Kuwait * 1980 Foundation of

* 1983 Foundation of Kuwait Petroleum International Limited - Acquisition

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

in the Benelux, Sweden and Denmark * 1984 Acquisition of

in Italy * 1986 Acquisition of Hays Petroleum Services (which had previously been owned by the Kuwait Investment Office, and used the Pace Petroleum brand) and Ultramar in the UK - Introduction of the Q8 brand * 1987 Acquisition of BP in Denmark * 1987 Acquisition of the Soviet-controlled Nafta in Britain * 1990 Acquisition of

Mobil Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999. ...

Oil in Italy * 1997 Joint Venture with

Agip Agip (''Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli'', en, General Italian Oil Company) is an Italian automotive gasoline, diesel, LPG, lubricants, fuel oil, and bitumen retailer established in 1926. It has been a subsidiary of the multinational petroleu ...

- Milazzo refinery in Sicily * 1998 Joint Venture OK Petroleum and KPI in Sweden, establishing the OKQ8 brand * 1998 Acquisition of BP retail Belgium * 1999 Acquisition of Aral Belgium * 2004 Acquisition of Tango unmanned sites from Petroplus in the Netherlands (62 sites), Belgium (4 sites) and Spain(1 site); these are typically now branded "Q8 Easy" * 2004 Sale of UK operations to a consortium operating under the name Pace Petroleum * 2005 Sale of Thai operations to the Malaysian company

Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad (National Petroleum Limited), commonly known as Petronas, is a Malaysian oil and gas company. Established in 1974 and wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with all oil and gas reso ...

* 2006 Sale of German operation (which had 37 service stations under the Markant brand) to Westfalen * 2017 A joint venture between Kuwait Petroleum International and OQ was announced for the development of Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Complex. In the same year, OQ's subsidiary, Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO), began construction of a crude oil storage terminal near Raz Markaz. The company's logo represents a

dhow Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spor ...

, a traditional Arab sailboat. The colours yellow, red and blue symbolise the desert, sun and sea respectively.

References

External links

{{Portal, Kuwait, Energy
Official Kuwait Petroleum International website
Oil and gas companies of Kuwait Non-renewable resource companies established in 1986 International organizations based in Kuwait Kuwaiti companies established in 1986