Kuwait oil field sightings
- Date
- 10 Nov 1978
- Place
- Kuwait Oil Company pumping station No. 24, Umm al-Aish, northern Kuwait
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Unexplained
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Seven technicians, one of them an American, at Kuwait Oil Company pumping station 24 at Umm al-Aish reported a domed cylindrical object with flashing red lights landing silently nearby for about seven minutes; the automatic pumping equipment shut down while it was present and, according to a senior company official, restarted on its own afterwards, which normally required a manual restart. It was one of a series of sightings in Kuwait between 9 November and 14 December 1978, reported in the press at the time. The Kuwaiti government set up a committee from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and the US embassy reported to the State Department in January 1979 that the committee rejected earthly spy craft but would not say what the objects were.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
KISR committee: not earthly spy devices; no conclusion on the objects' nature
Strongest ordinary reading
none established
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- Yes: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- Yes: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- Yes: Silent
Outside sources
- Patrick Gross: US Embassy Kuwait cable (FOIA)ufologie.patrickgross.org
- Le Meridional, 13 Nov 1978 (Patrick Gross archive)ufologie.patrickgross.org
On the map
29.70° N, 47.68° E, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map