A fire that broke out at Kuwait's largest oil refinery, Mina Al-Ahmadi, earlier on Wednesday was 'critical' and risked spreading, a spokesman for the Kuwait National Petroleum Company said.

The fire took place in a crane positioned between one tank filled with gasoline and another that was empty, the spokesman said.

The spokesman declined to offer any damage estimate.

The refinery has capacity to process 460,000 barrels per day of crude. - Reuters