Kuwait Petroleum International was established in 1983, to manage the refining and marketing interests of our parent company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, outside Kuwait.

The growth of Q8’s extensive network of service stations in Europe began with the acquisition, in 1983/4, of Gulf Oil's operations in the Benelux, Sweden, Denmark and Italy, and of BP’s operations in Denmark in 1987. Expansion continued in the early 1990s with the purchase of Mobil service stations in Italy and BP’s assets in Luxembourg.

Q8 launched operations in Spain in 1992 and our business in Italy was strengthened through a joint venture with Italian oil company AGIP at the Milazzo refinery in Sicily.

A joint venture with OKF in Sweden in 1998 created OKQ8, one of the the leading networks of service stations in Sweden, while the acquisition of the service stations of BP and Aral, made Q8 Belgium’s second largest oil company.

Q8’s business in the Netherlands was strengthened by acquiring Tango automated service stations in the Netherlands.

Over the past three decades, Q8 has expanded rapidly through a series of carefully planned acquisitions selected for their strategic fit with the business.

Today, Q8’s business is expanding into the Far East with plans for ambitious joint venture marketing and manufacturing projects, with the construction of a refinery and petrochemical complex in both China and Vietnam.