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KUWAIT, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery restarted after a brief shutdown on Wednesday and was expected to return to full capacity within 24 hours, a spokesman for operator Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said.
The OPEC member's biggest refinery was forced to close after supplies of sea water pumped to it by pipeline stopped, but flows resumed about an hour later and the refinery was restarted, he said on Wednesday afternoon.
"We normally get our water from a government authority. There was a problem with supply at the source, possibly a broken pump or another problem with their system," the spokesman for the state-owned refiner said.
The 466,000 barrels per day refinery makes up nearly half of Kuwait's total refining capacity of 930,000 bpd in three refineries.
The refinery is 45 km to the south of Kuwait City and produces gasoline and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), among other products.
(Reporting by Sylvia Westall and Daniel Fineren, editing by William Hardy)
((sylvia.westall@thomsonreuters.com)(+965 2240 8945)(Reuters Messaging: sylvia.westall.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: KUWAIT REFINERY/
