KUWAIT, u 9: Kuwait's oil minister said the emirate had prepared an emergency plan to protect its oil installations and to maintain its oil production. the official Kuwait news agency (KUNA) reported on Saturdav. says Reuter

The Oil Minister. Abdul mohsen Al-Mudej. said the plan includes all precautionary measures necessary to protest the petroleum Installations and to guarantee the continuity of their operation and the flow of their production in a normal manner”.

The plan could be put into action whenever Kuwait needed. the minister was quoted as saying.

The measures were normal and should not be regarded as "reasons for excitement and panic," said Mudej.

Iraqi troops torched most of about 700 oil wells In the emirate In February 1991 as they fled the advance of a US-led coalition that ended a seven-month Iraqi occupation.