The Kuwait Oil Field Sighting
Oil workers in Kuwait watched a large, domed object hover over their oil field, and the pumping equipment stopped by itself.
What was reported
On 9 November 1978, technicians at a Kuwait Oil Company field in the north of the country reported a large, cylindrical object with a dome and a flashing red light hovering nearby for several minutes. A senior company official later told US diplomats that the automatic pumps shut down while it was there, and started again by themselves afterwards.
More sightings followed over the next weeks, and the Kuwaiti government set up a committee of experts from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to investigate.
Explanations offered
The committee concluded the objects were not spy aircraft, but did not say what they were. Suggestions include atmospheric effects, misidentified aircraft and coincidental equipment faults. The case is known mainly through press reports and US embassy cables released later.
- When
- November – December 1978
- Where
- Northern oil fields, Kuwait
- Witnesses
- Kuwait Oil Company technicians and others
- Status
- Unexplained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.