MIDEAST WELL FIRE, OIL SPILL PLANS TAKING SHAPE

Efforts continue to take shape in the Persian Gulf to combat history's worst oil fires and oil spill. State owned Kuwait Oil Co. plans to drill a series of infill wells in giant Burgan and Magwa fields to restore some Kuwaiti crude production within 2 months.

March 25, 1991

6 min read

Efforts continue to take shape in the Persian Gulf to combat history's worst oil fires and oil spill.

State owned Kuwait Oil Co. plans to drill a series of infill wells in giant Burgan and Magwa fields to restore some Kuwaiti crude production within 2 months.

Wild well specialists continue to prepare for the massive firefighting effort, with the first simple well kill accomplished last week. That occurred against a backdrop of mounting concern over the environmental and human health effects of the burning crude. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent air quality specialists and monitoring equipment to Kuwait to assess health risks after U.S. troops there complained of several ailments apparently caused by breathing air tainted by smoke.

Meantime, Iran reported black rain fell in cities in Kerman and Bushehr, both southern provinces.

Kuwaiti officials are offering varying estimates of the cost and duration of the country's reconstruction, but the latest estimates are lower.

Saudi Arabia is considering bioremediation to clean up the giant oil slicks that still threaten desalination and other industrial plants along its coasts. Officials estimate the spill cleanup could take years.

Separately, prospects grow that Iraq's oil supplies might remain off the market longer than expected, as civil war there focuses on key northern oil facilities. Kurdish forces claim to be in full control of all checkpoints at Iraq's border with Turkey and all large cities in the northern provinces, including the key oil center at Kirkuk.

KUWAITI PRODUCTION RESTORATION

KOC first wants to produce enough oil to serve local power stations.

The new wells will supplement the flow from undamaged wells that are being prepared to resume production.

The emergency program is designed to provide 50,000 b/d within 2 months. Once the power market is met, KOC will drill more wells to boost production to 100,000 b/d.

The additional oil will be used by local refineries to meet domestic product demand. KOC has given priority to serving power stations because it has enough gasoline and other products in stock to meet reduced local demand for as much as 3 months.

The new wells will be drilled a safe distance from wells currently burning out of control. No details are available about the number of wells planned or whether KOC still has enough rigs in Kuwait to undertake the program.

At a meeting with United Nations Sec. Gen. Javier Perez de Cuellar, a Kuwaiti delegation estimated lost revenues from the burning wells at $120 million/day.

The delegation, presenting a case for reparations from Iraq, said first estimates of damage to Kuwait were $70100 billion.

Kuwait's ambassador to the U.N., Muhammad Abu al- Hasan, said Iraq should allocate part of future oil revenues to pay Kuwait for damage caused during the Iraqi occupation.

Kuwait's ambassador to Great Britain, Ghazi al-Rayes, offered a reduced damage estimate of $30-50 billion.

OIL FIRES

Estimates of the volume of oil still burning in Kuwait vary. Oil Minister Rashid Salim al-Ameeri estimated 6 million b/d was burning because each of the burning wells was flowing at maximum rate.

He also raised the possibility of permanent damage to giant Burgan reservoir because water is being lost through the burning wells. KOC engineers have seen substantial volumes of steam blowing from the wells, indicating water coning.

In analyzing prospects for bringing the wells under control, the minister said a small number needed only to be capped, but most might need relief wells.

He said only eight firefighting teams will be able to work at any one time. These will come from Red Adair, Boots & Coots, Wild Well Control, and Cudd Pressure Control Inc. from the U.S. and Safety Boss from Canada.

The number of crews is limited by the extensive amount of military hardware littering oil fields. There are also unexploded bombs and oil wells packed with explosives that did not detonate.

Once some of this military hardware is removed, KOC hopes well control specialists can boost the number of teams to 12-14.

Safety and ancillary services are being moved into the fields.

KOC confirmed that a number of well fires have died either because of pressure drops or because the water cut in the oil flow extinguished the fire.

Work has started on building small storage reservoirs in the desert to hold water for firefighting.

First fill for the reservoirs will come from water wells in the fields, but there also are plans to lay a pipeline to transport seawater from the Persian Gulf.

Asger "Boots" Hansen of Boots & Coots told United Press International all wells could be extinguished in a year. He noted about half the well fires would be easy to snuff because explosives the Iraqis planted simply popped off Christmas trees and the oil is blowing straight up, making it easy to approach and work on.

The others involve explosions that caused extensive casinghead damage, where the flaming crude is blowing out to the side and must be channeled upward before attempts can be made to extinguish the flames.

The first of six U.S. Air Force C5A Galaxy transport plans carrying emergency oil field equipment left Houston for Kuwait Mar. 13, with others expected to follow through early last week, UPI reported.

SPILL UPDATE

Saudi and other officials met in Bahrain earlier this month to discuss options for cleaning up the largest of three war related spills in the Persian Gulf.

At an estimated 5 million bbl, the biggest spill, which the Iraqis caused by opening valves at Kuwait's giant Sea Island offshore terminal, still threatens facilities along the Saudi coast.

The Saudis are studying possible use of bioremediation to break up the slick. Other options being proposed include use of dispersants or wool fiber booms.

At presstime last week, the big spill still remained several miles from Jubail, site of the world's largest desalination plant and a huge refining/petrochemical complex.

The Saudis were forced to shut down a smaller coastal desalination plant farther north during a few days this month.