A preliminary survey of Kuwait's war damaged oil industry shows first estimates of more than $20 billion to restore facilities to prewar condition were too high.
Required spending could be less than half that. However, this is a broad estimate, and the first definitive figures will come from a detailed damage survey of the production, export, and refining facilities under way by Bechtel Corp., prime contractor on Kuwait's industry restoration. The survey could take 4-8 weeks to complete.
The Kuwaiti government is concerned about slow progress so far in the campaign to dowse fires and kill 500-600 wild wells sabotaged by Iraqi forces. Contractors echo those same concerns, citing continuing delays in moving equipment into Kuwait through Saudi Arabia.
As of presstime last week, three U.S. well control companies had killed more than 60 wells, including at least 10 ablaze.
Despite signs the momentum of well control activity is building, the Kuwaiti government has expressed disappointment with results and called for more help to deal with the situation.
In other industry developments related to the Persian Gulf conflict's aftermath:
- A technique for extinguishing Kuwaiti oil well fires while restoring the wells to productivity is under development at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.
- Saudi Arabia's Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA) named Crowley Maritime Corp., Oakland, prime contractor to clean up oil spilled in the Persian Gulf. Unofficial sources estimate cleanup cost at more than $200 million.
- In Iraq, Baghdad newspaper Al-Thawra reported the 200,000 b/d Baiji refinery resumed production after a 3 month shutdown caused by allied bombing. Full production is to be resumed by the end of May, and within a few weeks of that domestic refineries will be able to meet all the country's fuel requirements, the newspaper said.
Before the war, Iraq was consuming about 300,000 b/d, but the economy is unlikely to absorb this volume of products because of serious damage to many industries by allied air strikes.
KUWAITI CONCERNS
Behind the Kuwaiti government's unease is growing evidence that reservoirs are being damaged by water coning, ruining some of the wells for future production.
Kuwait Oil Co. reports the water coning problem is most apparent on the edge of some fields.
Water breakthrough has increased the volume of water in the uncontrolled flow and extinguished fires in a number of wells.
KOC plans to bring in a fourth U.S. wild well control company, Cudd Pressure Control Inc., and is studying prospects for bringing in European companies. A fifth company approached by the Kuwaitis, Safety Boss Inc., is based in Calgary.
Kuwaiti Oil Minister Rashid al-Ameeri said European companies will be asked to join the North American centered well control operations. But he was unable to say how many new companies will be involved or where they will come from.
Al-Ameeri added that bringing in new companies might reduce the well control program to 7 months from 2 years but would increase outlays for the program, currently budgeted at $430 million.
Reducing the program time would, however, cut Kuwait's expected losses from crude burned to $12.5 billion from $43 billion, he said.
Al-Ameeri was expected to be removed as oil minister and replaced in a major Kuwaiti cabinet reshuffle late last week, unofficial reports from Kuwait said.
Negotiations have started with government organizations and private companies from Britain, France, Germany, and China about taking part in the program.
Kuwait also received an offer of help from National Iranian Oil Co.
In addition, the Soviet Union expressed strong interest in helping with the Kuwaiti wild well control effort, as well as with cleaning up the Persian Gulf oil spills.
Moscow said it has developed several chemicals proven effective in cleaning up Caspian Sea and other marine oil spills but conceded it doesn't have the capacity to produce enough of them to play a major role in the Persian Gulf effort.
Pravda said Moscow is considering requests by a number of foreign firms that have contacted Soviet authorities to participate in the well firefighting campaign. Pravda noted the U.S.S.R. has equipment and trained personnel available to fight oil well fires, and improved firefighting equipment is being developed by former defense industry factories converted to nonmilitary production.
U.K. OFFERS
Peter Lilley, Britain's secretary of state for trade and industry who led a business delegation to Kuwait, said U.K. companies could make a sizable contribution to restoring Kuwait's oil industry.
U.K. companies offered Kuwait a package deal to rehabilitate an oil field wholly or in part, from clearance of mines and military equipment to restoration of production.
The British delegation said intense heat from some of the fires and many unexploded mines still were preventing entry into parts of Burgan field.
Clifford Simpson, a senior drilling executive from British Petroleum Co. plc with the delegation, said the firefighting effort was concentrated around the oil town of Ahmadi. No attempt was being made to tackle fires away from population centers.
Representatives of three European oil companies that will use European Commission funds to help the firefighting effort have arrived in Kuwait. Executives from Ste. Nat Elf Aquitaine, Petrofina SA, and Agip SpA are assessing how $8 million in funds can best be spent.
WELL CONTROL UPDATE
Wild Well Control Inc., Spring, Tex., said many problems that first hampered firefighters' efforts have been solved.
"Equipment is either there or arriving quickly, and we have communications," a Wild Well official said. "We're very enthused about the progress ... We should begin to see better results."
However, Boots & Coots Inc., Houston, said little progress had been made in efforts to deliver adequate volumes of water to problem wellsites.
"There isn't much firefighting going on," Boots & Coots said. "It's about the same old deal."
Initial plans called for reversing the flow of oil and gas gathering pipelines to bring in Persian Gulf water to wellsites.
Wild Well Control has capped or controlled 25 wells, eight of which were ablaze, Red Adair Co. has capped 28 wells, and Boots & Coots has capped 11 blowouts, two of which were ablaze.
Wild Well Control has two six man teams and a team leader on scene, Boots & Coots two three man teams and a supervisor.
COMPLAINTS
Although some well fires have been put out, well control companies in Houston said water supplies still fell short of volumes needed to dowse some of the larger blazes.
"They're working on it, but they haven't got it yet," Wild Well Control said.
A Boots & Coots official said crews would be better off if wells flowing a sour crude oil stream continued burning.
"When an H2S (contaminated) well is on fire, it burns off the H2S and leaves sulfur dioxide, which isn't as deadly as hydrogen sulfide gas," he said.
Meanwhile, Red Adair threatened to return his men and equipment to the U.S. if the Kuwaiti government doesn't begin providing equipment and supplies needed for the work.
Adair's frustration with the government apparently stems from the latter's inability to supply adequate volumes of water to firefighters, delayed shipments of heavy equipment, and a lack of living quarters for crewmen.
Last week a convoy of firefighting equipment reportedly was stalled at the Saudi-Kuwaiti border awaiting approval to enter Kuwait. Saudi bureaucratic snafus also have been blamed for the delays.
Regarding Kuwaiti plans to hire more well control specialists, Boots & Coots expressed doubt there are many other competent blowout companies.
"There are a lot of people who can talk it, but not many who can do it," a company official said.
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE PROJECT
An oil/gas separator installed over a Kuwaiti burning well would quench the fire while allowing oil to flow into production pipelines, Livermore studies show.
The proposal has been reviewed informally-but favorably-by oil industry experts who encouraged continued development, the laboratory said.
The system involves lowering a 30 ft dome over a burning well, allowing flammable, toxic gases to vent and burn out of a stack at the top, and collecting oil at the bottom so it can be pumped into gathering lines.
Designing the system will require another 1-2 months of work at Livermore, said Carl Henning, engineer in charge of the project. About 3 months more would then be required to build, deliver, and test a prototype system in Kuwait, Henning estimated.
Henning believes if research and development go well, perhaps all but a handful of the 500 or more wells still burning could be extinguished and returned to production by the technique.
"The tone I would like to convey is cautious optimism," he said. "We have to prove that this method will work, and we have not done that yet. But the concept is so simple and its advantages so clear that professionals in the oil business have given us a great deal of encouragement."
The technique was presented to a joint government-industry group meeting in Houston Apr. 5 that included representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and several of its contractor laboratories including Livermore, other government agencies including military services, contractors, and U.S. and Kuwaiti oil company officials.
A typical Kuwaiti oil well before the war produced 3,000-4,000 b/d, but the loss of wellhead flow control through sabotage or allied attacks pushed that flow rate to about 10,000 b/d, Livermore noted. The oil in many cases is saturating the desert sands and pooling in lakes 1-3 ft deep.
Compounding the problem is the release of H2S and methane with the crude. Livermore contends resolving that problem is one of the strengths of its system.
HOW IT WOULD WORK
Here's the sequence of events in extinguishing an oil fire with Livermore's proposed system:
- A powerful crane would place the vessel-a steel structure about 30 ft high and 10 ft in diameter-over the wellhead fire. The weight of the vessel would press its bottom edges into the heavy, oil soaked sand, forming a fairly tight seal.
- Engineers would connect external valves to gathering lines.
- Inside the vessel, oil would gush up into the cavity, where, with dwindling oxygen, the fire would soon be pushed up to the top of the gas vent stack. There, flammable and toxic gases would burn well above the ground.
- Curved fins in the vessel would swirl the gushing oil into a whirlpool, pushing much of it toward the wall of the vessel. There, it would run down into a collection trough at ground level.
- Oil would be pumped from the trough into gathering lines for transfer to production facilities. Oil flow rates would still be uncontrolled, but the resource would no longer be lost and the fires would be under control.
"If this works," Henning said, "it will solve the most serious problems faced at the wellheads and give the Kuwaitis revenues to start rebuilding their country. The wellheads may still have to be rebuilt over a period of months or years. But while that is happening, at least the oil won't be gushing into the sand and the skies won't be black with fires."
The laboratory has begun efforts to file a patent application covering the technique.
University of California operates Livermore for DOE.
CLEANUP CONTRACT
Crowley's $15 million first phase contract calls for it to provide personnel for the spill cleanup, mobilize specialized equipment and materials to the scene, and remove and store free-floating and stranded oil using proven shallow water spill control techniques.
Crowley will operate under direction of onsite coordinator Nizar Tawfiq, a MEPA vice-president.
Phase one of the agreement involves cleanup during the next 45 days of several sites along the Saudi coast.
Crowley personnel have been in Saudi Arabia since January helping MEPA plan the cleanup effort, including engineering and field management support at strategic coastal sites.
Much of the equipment Crowley has agreed to buy and mobilize will be turned over to MEPA at the end of the project for use in future cleanup activity.
Crowley also will train MEPA personnel to manage, use, and deploy the equipment.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
