KUWAITI WELL KILL PROGRAM HITS HALFWAY POINT

The postwar restoration of Kuwait reached a major milestone last week with the killing of the country's 375th sabotaged oil well. It is the halfway point in repairing history's largest act of oil field vandalism. Since launching of the Al-Awda well control project last March, Kuwait Oil Co. has marshaled nearly 9,000 workers from 32 countries on five continents in an effort to get its damaged oil fields back into production.

Sept. 16, 1991

2 min read

The postwar restoration of Kuwait reached a major milestone last week with the killing of the country's 375th sabotaged oil well.

It is the halfway point in repairing history's largest act of oil field vandalism.

Since launching of the Al-Awda well control project last March, Kuwait Oil Co. has marshaled nearly 9,000 workers from 32 countries on five continents in an effort to get its damaged oil fields back into production.

A total of 749 of Kuwait's 935 wells was damaged during the Iraqi occupation, and more than 650 wells were set ablaze or left blowing oil during the final weeks of the war. The tally came from Bechtel, Al-Awda project management contractor.

WELL CONTROL CAMPAIGN

A firefighting team from Safety Boss Ltd., Calgary, killed the "halfway well," a 7,000 b/d blazing blowout, designated well BG-41, Sept. 10 in Greater Burgan field. Safety Boss killed its first Kuwaiti blowout Apr. 18 (OGJ, Sept. 9, p. 33).

China's Xinhua News Agency reported a Chinese firefighting crew killed its first well fire Sept. 8. The 60 member crew killed the Greater Burgan well in 3 days.

A team of firefighters from Iran's Ministry of Petroleum killed its first oil well in Kuwait, one of 28 it is to extinguish in Greater Burgan field under a 1 year contract. The 47 member team has been in Kuwait since Aug. 5.

Six more international crews, including one from Kuwait, are expected to join the effort soon, Bechtel said.

A 1,000 person contingent from Bechtel is in Kuwait and in Dubai, U.A.E., coordinating damage assessment, planning, engineering, procurement, and construction services for the project.

More than 90,000 tons of equipment and supplies have been massed on the job to support the firefighting effort, including 3,000 pieces of operating equipment. An estimated 90 miles of water and oil pipelines are being used.

The water pipelines can deliver 20 million gpd to the fire sites. Pumps and hose lines are capable of drawing 6,000 gpm of water from lagoons to battle the blazes.

The lagoons are excavated at strategic sites in the oil fields, lined with heavy plastic sheeting, and filled with 1 million gal of water each. To date, 171 lagoons have been completed, and more 365 lagoons will be dug before the firefighting is finished.