Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), commonly known as Q8 (pronounced Cue-Eight, which sounds like "Kuwait" in a British accent), is the international

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (; KPC) is Kuwait's major national oil company, headquartered in Al Kuwait. The activities of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation are focused on petroleum exploration, production, petrochemicals, refining, marketing, a ...

. It 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, ...

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. Mos ...

s in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Established in 1983, 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 are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

s, as well as direct sales operations delivering fuel and

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

to domestic and industrial users. Q8 also operates an International Diesel Service - 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. Mos ...

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, gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for ...

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 contrasts with priv ...

of oil wells in Kuwait * 1980 Foundation of

* 1983 Foundation of Kuwait Petroleum International - 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 Seven Sisters (oil companies), Seven Sisters oil companies. ...

in the Benelux, Sweden and Denmark * 1984 Acquisition of Gulf Oil 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 Ultramar is an Eastern Canada, Eastern Canadian gas and home fuel retailer, with its head office located in Montreal, Quebec. Ultramar operates gas stations and home fuel delivery in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada. History British oil co ...

in the UK - Introduction of the Q8 brand * 1987 Acquisition of BP in Denmark * 1987 Acquisition of the Soviet-controlled

Nafta The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

in Britain * 1990 Acquisition of

Mobil Oil Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...

in Italy * 1997 Joint Venture with

Agip Agip S.p.A., acronym for Azienda generale italiana petroli, was an Italian automotive gasoline, Diesel fuel, diesel, Liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, lubricants, fuel oil, and bitumen retailer established in 1926 and Subsidiary company, subsidiary ...

- Milazzo refinery in Sicily * 1998 Joint Venture

OK Petroleum ''OK'' (), with spelling variations including ''okay'', ''okeh'', ''O.K.'' and #Variations, many others, is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indif ...

and KPI in Sweden, establishing the OKQ8 brand * 1998 Acquisition of BP retail Belgium * 1999 Acquisition of Aral Belgium * 2004 Acquisition of

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

unmanned sites from

Petroplus Petroplus Holdings AG was Europe's largest independent oil refiner by capacity. When it was first formed in 1993, it was known as Petroplus International N.V., and was based in the Netherlands. In August 1998, it was listed on the Amsterdam ...

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, commonly known as PETRONAS (stylised in all caps), is a Malaysian Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, it is a lega ...

* 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 and 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 (; ) 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 sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels ...

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

References

External links

* {{Official Website} Oil and gas companies of Kuwait Non-renewable resource companies established in 1986 Kuwaiti companies established in 1986 Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

History

References

See also

External links