Kuwait donates $500 million in oil to U.S.

KUWAIT – Wealthy OPEC nation Kuwait said on Sunday it is donating $500 million in oil products and other humanitarian aid to its ally the United States to ease severe shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina.

He said the aid gesture was a duty towards a friend by the tiny Gulf Arab state which was liberated in 1991 by a U.S.-led multinational coalition from seven months of Iraqi occupation.

Sheikh Ahmad, who is also OPEC