The house flag of Kuwait Oil Tankers, Kuwait. A flag divided into horizontal red, white and black stripes (the white stripe is wider). In the centre there are gold Arabic letters on a green background. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The motif is printed. A rope and toggle are attached.

The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) was founded in 1957 as a private company to serve the growing need for international transport of petroleum products from Kuwait. In 1959 its first oil tanker, the ‘Kazimah’, was launched with a capacity of 49,000 metric tons. In 1960, KOTC built its first gas filling plant, which provided liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) to the local market in Kuwait. In 1976, the Kuwaiti government acquired a 49% majority share of KOTC, and three years later gained full control of the company, as well as the other three major Kuwaiti oil operating companies. One year later, in 1980, the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Company was founded as a holding company for these major oil operations, with KOTC now controlling the transportation division. The current capacity of KOTC’s tankers is about 4 million tons. The tankers include product, crude, and gas carriers, among them Very Large Product Carriers (VLPC) and Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) to carry Kuwait’s oil to world markets. The company still operates LPG filling and distribution for its local Kuwaiti markets; it has a Marine Agency to offer services to tankers visiting Kuwait’s ports, and currently has an order for nine new tankers to be built beginning in 2007.