KUWAITI WELL FIRE BATTLE EXPECTED TO END SOON

Completing the massive campaign to control history's worst oil field fires in Kuwait is within sight.

Reports from Kuwaiti officials and various contractors involved in the campaign differ as to when the job will be complete and the rate at which well kills are being accomplished. There isn't even agreement on the number of wells that originally were sabotaged with explosives by Iraqi forces earlier this year.

But all now agree the job will be completed much sooner than expected, perhaps by yearend.

Kuwaiti officials earlier this year said they expected the job to be complete by March 1992, a forecast greeted with skepticism by some wild well control companies involved in the effort.

In other developments related to restoration of Kuwait's oil industry:

• Kuwait has started production from the first of 26 new oil producing wells scheduled for completion by yearend.

• Latest to join the Kuwaiti wild well campaign is Alert Well Control, a jointly owned U.S./Canadian company. Late last month Alert, with offices in Calgary, Houston, and Singapore, sent four teams of seven firefighters each to Kuwait. Alert's contract with Kuwait Oil Co. is only described as a multimillion dollar one.

• Kuwaiti Oil Minister Hamoud al-Ruqbah said Kuwait would recoup some of the $2 billion in outlays for firefighting and well control operations by selling equipment that had been bought especially for the work. The equipment was worth $600 million, he added. Meantime, work began last month on efforts to reclaim oil from dozens of lakes of crude created by blowing wells.

• New contracts for rebuilding Kuwait's shattered economy will carry offset agreements requiring successful foreign bidders to purchase Kuwaiti exports for the equivalent value of the contract or to make direct investments in Kuwait. The offset program will be managed by Kuwaiti International Investment Co . in conjunction with Bank of America. The first test of Kuwait's ability to provide the right offset opportunities will come with a proposed $1 billion investment to reequip Kuwait Airways.

KOC ESTIMATES

Al-Ruqbah said 118 wells were still burning as of midweek last week and these should be extinguished by the end of November.

Bulk of the burning wells are in the Greater Burgan complex and in the Raudhatain and Sabriya field in the north of the country, the minister said. About 432 wells were sabotaged in the Greater Burgan area and about 150 high pressure wells were set ablaze in Raudhatain and Sabriya. Firefighters had extinguished 212 of the Burgan wells as of last week.

Kuwait British Group has begun work on extinguishing wells in the Sabriya field.

Saud al-Nashimi, KOC general manager of drilling and well control, said wells were being killed at the rate of about 8.5/day compared with only 1/day when the work started in March. He cited the increased number and experience of the 33 firefighting teams, ready availability of equipment, and a fully operational water supply system.

Teams participating in or expected to join the wild well control effort this month come from the U.S., Canada, China, Iran, Kuwait, Argentina, France, Hungary, Romania, the U.K., and U.S.S.R.

SANTA FE'S TESTIMONY

Wild well control teams have extinguished or controlled 610 of 697 wild oil wells in Kuwait and expect to kill the final 87 wells by yearend, Santa Fe International Corp. reported to the U.S. Senate's gulf pollution task force last week.

Crews have been controlling wells at the rate of 4/day, Santa Fe said.

Red Adair, president of Red Adair Inc., wrote the committee, "it is certain that our work in Kuwait is thankfully coming to a close."

In his letter, Adair said the last well should be controlled by yearend, "but we must bear in mind that weather changes, as well as well size and complexity, will play a role in the time involved to extinguish the remaining wells.

"As you read this, one of our teams is battling a 30 acre ground fire to get to a wellhead."

Adair had testified to the committee in June, complaining about poor support for the well control effort but now says, "Soon after the testimony, we were provided with adequate equipment, personnel, medical supplies and services, water lines, etc., which has allowed us to accomplish our task with remarkable speed."

CRITICISM UNDESERVED?

Gordon Anderson, president of Santa Fe International, said early criticism of Kuwait's management of the firefighting and well control effort was ill deserved.

"At the conclusion of the war, KOC's entire operation-all warehouse material and all transport equipment-were either destroyed or stolen by the Iraqis.

"KOC had nothing but a few people.... Restaffing commenced and priorities were established under impossible circumstances. The firefighters who arrived first could not be properly equipped. Tons of material required mobilization. Purchasing procedures and funding provisions had to be created."

But he said an escalating KOC effort resulted in a steadily increasing rate of wells controlled.

ESTIMATES VARY

Anderson said KOC estimates the Iraqis damaged 697 wells, setting 607 afire, letting 43 gush oil, and damaging 47 to the extent they required remedial work by fire fighting crews.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has estimated the original number of burning wells at 629. Saud al-Nashimi, KOC general manager of drilling and well control operations, put the original number of wells damaged at 732 wells. Bechtel, project management contractor, put the original number of damaged wells at 749, with more than 650 set afire.

Anderson said "it is of some interest, in this day of high technology, that the key ingredients in this successful effort-aside from the human element- have been rather ordinary commodities: water and dirt."

He said Bechtel has directed the movement of more than 1,500 dump truck loads/day of dirt for access roads. And more than 90 miles of existing oil pipelines have been reversed to move seawater to 312 temporary lagoons, each lined with plastic sheeting and filled with 1 million gal of water.

WELL CONTROL APPROACHES

Anderson said KOC reviewed more than 1,000 suggestions for fighting the well fires but rejected virtually all because they misunderstood the problem, targeted only one part of the problem-for example, extinguishing fires but not controlling the well-or anticipated a multiyear program that called for longer lead times than would be available.

"This is not to say the firefighting crews have not been creative in using innovative techniques. For example, they have used an abrasive water jet cutting system to cut through damaged wellheads, a system introduced 2 months ago which accomplishes in hours what took days with older methods. In another case, the Hungarian firefighting team mounted MIG 21 jet engines on a military tank and used the airflow from the engines to extinguish some fires."

He noted weather is beginning to be a problem. Until recently, firefighters have had consistent northerly winds, but with the change of season the winds have become more erratic, and they could require more access roads.

Anderson said mine clearing by the U.S. military and later by private contractors has kept ahead of the well control effort, and mines have not impaired progress.

"Mines are less of a problem because they were placed in defined and mapped areas. Ordnance, on the other hand, was dropped in widespread areas as dictated by the war effort, and fairly high quantities of undetonated ordnance, particularly cluster bombs, remain a constant threat."

NEW WELLS

Kuwait has completed a second well in a program to replace damaged wells.

The first well, in Maqwa field south of Kuwait city, is producing about 4,000 b/d.

The new well drilling program will continue into 1992 with a further 80 wells planned for the first half of the year.

The drilling program is to replace wells destroyed by the Iraqis. The minister estimated that 10% of the 732 wells sabotaged by the Iraqis will be plugged and abandoned. About 40% of the remaining wells will require minimal workovers, and further studies are needed to determine damage extent on the rest. Santa Fe's Anderson said deep well workovers will be a priority.

As new wells come on stream, output from Kuwait is to rise from 270,000 b/d to 400,000 b/d by yearend and 800,000 b/d by July 1992.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.