Up to 30 Iraqi oil wells on fire - Far fewer blazes than could have been possible

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March 21 — Several oil wells were on fire in southern Iraq on Friday, but exactly how many was unclear, with U.S. military officials estimating seven fires and Britain saying up to 30 oil wells could be ablaze. Officials noted that in any case, the number is far fewer than the 400 wells in the area, which is near Basra. “PUT INTO context, that’s perhaps not as bad as we might have feared,” British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told reporters in London. The oil fields of southern Iraq pump about half of the country’s daily output of 2.5 million barrels. A British military spokesman said the fires were set by Iraq. “Several of the oil heads have been set on fire by (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein’s forces in an attempt to deflect us from the task,” Capt. Al Lockwood told Reuters. Another British spokesman, Col. Chris Vernon, told Reuters that “U.S. Marines are moving well into the ... oil fields and it seems like we will be able to seize much of the oil structure intact.” The picture in northern Iraq was less clear amid unconfirmed reports U.S. special operations forces had secured the giant oilfields around Kirkuk, the biggest of Iraq’s 15 operational fields. A U.S. official said earlier this month that Iraq had placed explosives at the Kirkuk oilfields to prevent them being captured in the event of a U.S. invasion.

An arrow points to smoke plumes seen in an image taken Thursday by a U.S. satellite. The plumes are consistent with oil fires detected from space before, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

MARKETS HAPPY Oil markets seemed to take comfort from the speed of the U.S.-British advance and shrugged off the latest news of an increased number of Iraqi oil well fires. The lack of an impact from the war on oil shipments from Kuwait also inspired confidence.

     Kuwait<ampersand/>#8217;s state-run radio said Kuwaiti ports were operating normally Friday, and an oil industry source said crude shipments from Kuwaiti oil terminals were continuing without interruption.
   The Pentagon has said it would try to secure Iraq<ampersand/>#8217;s oil fields quickly to prevent Iraqi forces from damaging the country<ampersand/>#8217;s 1,685 wells.

Saddam uses oil as weapon in 1991

1 / 6 Oil as a weapon Jan. 15, 1991 - In the lead up to the Gulf War, military analysts considered how Saddam Hussein might use oil to thwart coalition air strikes, clog desalination plants in the Gulf and disrupt Kuwaiti oil production for years to come. NBC's Fred Francis reports.

2 / 6 A trip into hell March 16, 1991 - In the Kuwaiti desert 500 oil wells burn out of control. Coping with land mines and the spectacular sights, sounds and searing heat of roaring fires, teams of well control experts struggle to control the blazes. NBC's Bill Lagatuta reports.

3 / 6 Gushers and blazes March 26, 1991 - The Wild Well Control team from Texas began trying to cap a gushing oil well, but not enough water and equipment had yet arrived to wrestle the blazing fires. NBC's Deborah Roberts reports.

4 / 6 Still a prisoner of Saddam March 21, 1991 - Burning petroleum containing high levels of sulphur and lead poisoned the air, while a slick larger than the world had ever seen blackened the waters; a health and environmental nightmare. NBC's Deborah Roberts reports.

5 / 6 The health debate June 10, 1991 - If hell had a national park it would be here, but what is the impact on global health. NBC's Robert Hager reports.

6 / 6 380 down, 370 to go Sept. 13, 1991 - Six months after Desert Storm, half of the 750 burning oil wells still burn. NBC's Arthur Kent reports.

1991 FIRES
Even before the current war began, the Pentagon had expressed fears that Saddam Hussein had planned to sabotage Iraq’s oil fields. In 1991, Iraqi troops destroyed more than 700 well heads in Kuwait, turning its oil fields into a desert inferno that took seven months to extinguish. When Iraqi troops retreated from Kuwait in February 1991, they attached plastic explosives to well heads and piled sandbags against them to direct the force of the explosions for maximum effect. The result was geysers of burning crude at 603 wells, serious damage at more than 100 others and widespread environmental degradation. Teams of firefighters from the United States, Canada and eight other countries worked from April until November to put out the fires.
Most of the teams used seawater pumped through Kuwait’s empty oil pipelines to battle the fires. The heat was so intense, at more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that water sometimes continued boiling on the ground for two days afterward, said Mark Badick of Safety Boss, Inc. “We’ve had fire helmets melt on our heads,” said Badick, whose Calgary-based firm put out 180 of the Kuwaiti well fires.
Firefighters from Hungary had a different technique, using two jet engines mounted horizontally on a tank chassis — a homemade vehicle they called “Big Wind” — to blast flame-retardant foam at the fires. It took Kuwait more than two years and $50 billion to restore its oil output to prewar levels. If Iraq sabotaged its oil fields, any cleanup could take far longer and cost much more.

12 YEARS OF SANCTIONS Iraq’s fields and pipelines are badly run down after 12 years of U.N. economic sanctions. Its fields are also much farther from the sea than those in Kuwait, meaning a ready source of water might not be so easily available. Destruction could be especially bad if Iraqis set off explosives underground, deep within the well shafts themselves. If that happened, firefighters would have to drill a new “relief well” and pump a mixture of sand, gel and mud into each damaged shaft to try to plug it up and stop the blowout. “It’s a long, arduous process,” Badick said. Whereas he and his crews put out as many as five fires a day in Kuwait, cleaning up after a single underground explosion can take two months.