Flag of Ahmadí

This page is an exception, and it is worth saying so from the start: what is flown in the governorate of Ahmadí is not a flag but a logo. It is a disc with the Kuwaiti colours and an oil derrick in flames, and no law or resolution defines it.

How it came about

Ahmadí is the second most populous governorate of Kuwait, with about eight hundred thousand inhabitants, and it covers five thousand one hundred and twenty square kilometres in the south of the country, next to Saudi Arabia.

The only source that documents the symbol is the Wikimedia Commons file that reproduces it, uploaded in September 2022. Its description is terse and revealing: the image of the governorate’s flag is based on a photograph and on the logo of its Facebook page. Someone translated the institutional emblem into the shape of a flag. There is no date of adoption, no author, and no ratio fixed by rule.

What does appear in the drawing is the central motif: an oil drilling derrick with flames at the top. It is not an ornament. This governorate is home to the headquarters of the Kuwait Oil Company and of the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, and its port of Mina Abdulla is the second in the country by tonnage.

How it has changed

There is no record. As no rule defines it, no earlier version or modification has been documented.

What it means

• Red, green, black and white

  the four colours of the flag of Kuwait, on the outer ring.

• Light blue sky and blue sea

  the background of the disc, divided in two halves.

• Oil derrick with flames

  the oil, the reason the governorate exists.

• Disc

  the shape of the emblem; it is not a field divided into stripes but a logo.

Fun facts

1. It is not a flag, it is a logo

   The Commons file that is the source for this page says the image is based on a photograph and on the logo of the governorate’s Facebook page. Nobody approved a flag: someone adapted an institutional emblem.

2. The ring repeats the colours of Kuwait

   The three sections of the border —red, green and black, with white lines between them— are the four colours of the flag of Kuwait, here curved into a circle. The governorate identifies with the whole country, not with a region with a history of its own.

3. The derrick is the whole economy

   Ahmadí is home to the headquarters of the Kuwait Oil Company and the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, and its port of Mina Abdulla moves the second largest tonnage in the country. The logo puts at the centre what the governorate is: a refinery with its torch.

4. Commons warns that the copyright is doubtful

   The file page carries the incorrect licence template: Commons has questioned who the real author of the drawing is. It is noted in dates-dubtoses.md and should be reviewed before publishing.

5. Second in population, not in area

   With about eight hundred and nine thousand inhabitants, Ahmadí is the second most populous governorate of Kuwait, after Farwaniya. Its symbol is therefore one of the most seen in the country, and it has no legal basis at all.

Location