Editing Kuwaiti oil fires

{{Short description|Oil wells burned by the Iraqi military during the Gulf War}}
[[File:KuwaitiOilFires-STS037-152-91-(2).jpg|thumb|Smoke plumes from a few of the Kuwaiti Oil Fires on April 7, 1991, as seen from [[Space Shuttle Atlantis|Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'']] during [[STS-37]].<ref name="gulflink.osd.mil">{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s04.htm#IV.%20AIR%20POLLUTANTS%20FROM%20OIL%20FIRES%20AND%20OTHER%20SOURCES |title=IV. Air Pollutants From Oil Fires and other Sources|access-date=2014-06-06 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024302/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s04.htm#IV.%20AIR%20POLLUTANTS%20FROM%20OIL%20FIRES%20AND%20OTHER%20SOURCES |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="TAB J – Plume Configurations">{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabj.htm#TAB%20J%20%E2%80%93%20Plume%20Configurations |title=Tab J – Plume Configurations |access-date=2014-06-06 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924024306/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabj.htm#TAB%20J%20%E2%80%93%20Plume%20Configurations |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]

The '''Kuwaiti oil fires''' were caused by the [[Iraqi Armed Forces|Iraqi military]] setting fire to a reported 605 to 732 [[oil well]]s along with an unspecified number of oil filled low-lying areas, such as oil lakes and fire [[trench]]es while retreating from [[Kuwait]] in 1991 due to the advances of US-led [[Coalition of the Gulf War|coalition forces]] in the [[Gulf War]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 January 2022 |title=Persian Gulf War |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Persian-Gulf-War |access-date=2 March 2022 |website=Britannica |archive-date=2 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602182044/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/452778/Persian-Gulf-War |url-status=live }}</ref> The fires were started in January and February 1991, and the first [[oil well fire]]s were extinguished in early April 1991, with the last well capped on November 6, 1991.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s03.htm#III.%20CHRONOLOGY%20OF%20EVENTS |title=III. Chronology of Events, A. Discussion |access-date=2014-06-06 |archive-date=2017-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520121957/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s03.htm#III.%20CHRONOLOGY%20OF%20EVENTS |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Motives==
[[File:Oil well fires, south of Kuwait City, 1991.jpg|thumb|Oil well fires, south of Kuwait City. (Photo taken from inside a UH-60 Blackhawk; the door frame is the black bar on the right of the photo)]]
The dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over alleged [[Directional drilling|slant-drilling]] in the [[Rumaila oil field]] was one of the reasons for [[Iraqi invasion of Kuwait|Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990]].<ref name=GT-DEX-1990-01>Thomas C. Hayes, [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/03/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-the-oilfield-lying-below-the-iraq-kuwait-dispute.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm Confrontation in the Gulf; The Oilfield Lying Below the Iraq-Kuwait Dispute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730193706/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/03/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-the-oilfield-lying-below-the-iraq-kuwait-dispute.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |date=2019-07-30 }}, ''The New York Times'', September 3, 1990</ref><ref name=GT-DEX-1990-02>{{cite book|last=J. Murdico|first=Suzanne|title=The Gulf War : War and Conflict in the Middle East|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0823945511|pages=13, 68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhvOVjZuBjgC&pg=PA13|date=2004}}</ref>
[[File:Kuwaiti Oil Well Fire.jpg|thumb|right|Kuwaiti oil well fire, south of Kuwait City, March, 1991]]
In addition, Kuwait had been producing oil above treaty limits established by [[OPEC]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Thomas C. Hayes|title=Confrontation in the Gulf; The Oilfield Lying Below the Iraq-Kuwait Dispute|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/03/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-the-oilfield-lying-below-the-iraq-kuwait-dispute.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 3, 1990|access-date=February 10, 2017|archive-date=July 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730193710/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/03/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-the-oilfield-lying-below-the-iraq-kuwait-dispute.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm|url-status=live}}</ref> By the eve of the Iraqi invasion, Kuwait had set production quotas to almost {{convert|1.9|Moilbbl/d|m3/d}}, which coincided with a sharp drop in the price of oil. By the summer of 1990, Kuwaiti overproduction had become a serious point of contention with Iraq.

Some analysts have speculated that one of [[Saddam Hussein]]'s main motivations in invading Kuwait was to punish the ruling [[al-Sabah family]] in Kuwait for not stopping its policy of overproduction, as well as his reasoning behind the destruction of said wells.<ref name="TED">{{cite web
| url = http://www.american.edu/TED/kuwait.htm
| title = The Economic and Environmental Impact of the Gulf War on Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf
| access-date = February 14, 2007
| date = December 1, 2000
| work = The Trade & Environment Database
| publisher = [[American University]]
| archive-date = August 2, 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150802010157/http://www1.american.edu/ted/KUWAIT.HTM
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

It is also hypothesized that Iraq decided to destroy the oil fields to achieve a military advantage, believing the intense smoke plumes serving as [[smoke screen]]s created by the burning oil wells would inhibit Coalition offensive [[airstrike]]s, foil allied [[precision guided weapons]] and spy satellites,<ref name="The Baltimore Sun">{{cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1991/01/23/burning-oil-wells-could-be-disaster-sagan-says/ |title=Burning oil wells could be disaster, Sagan says|date=January 23, 1991|page=1 of 2 |access-date=2014-06-07 |archive-date=2014-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006144456/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-23/news/1991023131_1_kuwait-saddam-hussein-sagan |url-status=live }}</ref> and could screen Iraq's military movements. Furthermore, it is thought that Iraq's military leaders may have regarded the heat, smoke, and debris from hundreds of burning oil wells as presenting a formidable [[area denial]] obstacle to Coalition forces. The onset of the oil well destruction supports this military dimension to the sabotage of the wells; for example, during the early stage of the Coalition air campaign, the number of oil wells afire was relatively small but the number increased dramatically in late February with the arrival of the ground war.<ref name="ReferenceC">{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s03.htm |title=III. Chronology of Events; A. Discussion |access-date=2014-06-06 |archive-date=2017-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520121957/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s03.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Iraqi military [[combat engineers]] also released oil into low-lying areas for defensive purposes against infantry and [[mechanized warfare|mechanized units]] along Kuwait's southern border, by constructing several "fire trenches" roughly {{convert|1|km|spell=in}} long, and {{convert|3|m|spell=in}} meters wide and deep to impede the advance of Coalition ground forces.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

The military use of the land based fires should also be seen in context with the coinciding, deliberate, sea based [[Gulf War oil spill]], the apparent strategic goal of which was to foil a potential [[amphibious landing]] by [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]].<ref name="timeline">{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2888880.htm |title=Timeline: 20 years of major oil spills |date=May 4, 2010 |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |access-date=May 25, 2010 |archive-date=February 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204213159/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2888880.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Extent==
{{See also|United Nations Compensation Commission}}[[File:F-14A VF-114 over burning Kuwaiti oil well 1991.JPEG|left|thumb| The Kuwaiti oil fires were not just limited to burning oil wells, one of which is seen here in the background, but burning "oil lakes", seen in the foreground, also contributed to the smoke plumes, particularly the [[soot]]iest/blackest of them (1991).<ref name="gulflink.osd.mil"/> ]]
As an international coalition under United States command assembled in anticipation of an invasion of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, the Iraqi regime decided to destroy as much of Kuwait's oil reserves and infrastructure as possible before withdrawing from that country. As early as December 1990, Iraqi forces placed explosive charges on Kuwaiti oil wells. The wells were systematically sabotaged beginning on January 16, 1991, when the allies commenced air strikes against Iraqi targets. On February 8, satellite images detected the first smoke from burning oil wells. The number of oil fires peaked between February 22 and 24, when the allied ground offensive began.<ref name="DoD EER">[[United States Department of Defense]] ''Environmental Exposure Report: Oil Well Fires'' (updated August 2, 2000)</ref>

According to the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|U.S. Environmental Protection Agency]]'s report to [[United States Congress|Congress]], "the retreating Iraqi army set fire to or damaged over 700 oil wells, storage tanks, refineries, and facilities in Kuwait."<ref name="1991 EPA Report">[[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] (1991). [http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/20014FNJ.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1991%20Thru%201994&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C91THRU94%5CTXT%5C00000017%5C20014FNJ.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&Display=p%7Cf&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1 "Report to Congress: United States Gulf Environmental Technical Assistance"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424001604/http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/20014FNJ.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1991%20Thru%201994&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C91THRU94%5CTXT%5C00000017%5C20014FNJ.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&Display=p%7Cf&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1 |date=2016-04-24 }}, pp. 14, A-1.</ref> Estimates placed the number of oil well fires from 605 to 732. A further thirty-four wells had been destroyed by heavy coalition bombing in January.<ref name="DoD EER"/> The Kuwait Petroleum Company's estimate as of September 1991 was that there had been 610 fires, out of a total of 749 facilities damaged or on fire along with an unspecified number of oil filled low-lying areas, such as "oil lakes" and "fire [[trench]]es".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> These fires constituted approximately 50% of the total number of oil well fires in the [[history of the petroleum industry]],<ref name="1991 EPA Report"/> and temporarily damaged or destroyed approximately 85% of the wells in every major Kuwaiti oil field.<ref name="DoD EER"/>

Concerted efforts to bring the fires and other damage under control began in April 1991. During the uncontrolled burning phase from February to April,<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/fig28.htm |title=Figure 28. Kuwait oil well capping, extinguishing, and oil flow chronology |access-date=2014-06-06 |archive-date=2017-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103171009/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/fig28.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> various sources estimated that the ignited wellheads burnt through between four and six million [[barrel of oil|barrels of crude oil]], and between seventy and one hundred million [[cubic meters]] of [[natural gas]] per day.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext |title="Iraq and Kuwait: 1972, 1990, 1991, 1997." Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change |last=Wellman |first=Robert Campbell |date=February 14, 1999 |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |access-date=July 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429014811/http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext |archive-date=April 29, 2012 }}</ref> Seven months later, 441 facilities had been brought under control, while 308 remained uncontrolled.<ref name="1991 EPA Report"/> The last well was capped on November 6, 1991. The total amount of oil burned is generally estimated at one billion barrels or just below one percent of Kuwait's entire supply of 104 billion barrels.<ref name="DoD EER"/><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/01/03/sproject.irq.kuwait.oil.fires/index.html?_s=PM:WORLD CNN.com, ''Kuwait still recovering from Gulf War fires''], January 3, 2003.</ref><ref>''The Energy Library'' (web site), "Gulf War oil well fires and oil spills," [http://www.theenergylibrary.com/node/13080 ''www.theenergylibrary.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714205053/http://www.theenergylibrary.com/node/13080 |date=2014-07-14 }}</ref> Daily global oil consumption in 2022 is about 99.4 million barrels;<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 Aug 2023 |title=SHORT-TERM ENERGY OUTLOOK |url=https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/global_oil.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811185150/https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/global_oil.php |archive-date=11 Aug 2023 |access-date=11 Aug 2023 |website=EIA}}</ref> the oil lost to combustion would last 10 days at modern usage rates.

=== Financial losses ===
In March 1991 the accumulated financial losses were estimated to be as much as 10% of 90 billion barrels of Kuwait oil reserves based on a statement made by a [[Kuwait Oil Company]] official. At the world prices at the time it would amount to [[United States dollar|US$]] 157.5 billion.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Branigin |first=William |date=1991-03-14 |title=KUWAIT'S ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC NIGHTMARE |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/03/14/kuwaits-environmental-economic-nightmare/e33515e6-6f45-4dda-879e-7b96e14b1f4f/ |access-date=2022-03-15 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==Military effects==
[[File:USAF F-16A F-15C F-15E Desert Storm edit2.jpg|thumb|right|[[United States Air Force|USAF]] aircraft fly over burning Kuwaiti oil wells (1991).]]
[[File:BrennendeOelquellenKuwait1991.jpg|thumb|right|The oil fires caused a dramatic decrease in [[air quality]], causing [[respiratory]] problems for many soldiers on the ground without [[gas masks]] (1991).]]
[[File:B Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines at Al-Burgan Oil Field, Kuwait in Gulf War, February 1991.tif|thumb|right|United States Marines approach burning oilfields during ground war of the Gulf War (1991).]]

On March 21, 1991, a Royal Saudi Air Force [[C-130]]H crashed in heavy smoke due to the Kuwaiti oil fires on approach to [[Ras Mishab Airport]], [[Saudi Arabia]]. 92 Senegalese soldiers and 6 Saudi crew members were killed, the largest accident among Coalition forces.<ref name="92-senegalese-soldiers-die">Schmitt, Eric (March 22, 1991). [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/22/world/after-the-war-92-senegalese-soldiers-die-in-saudi-arabia-air-crash.html "After the War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020063210/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/22/world/after-the-war-92-senegalese-soldiers-die-in-saudi-arabia-air-crash.html |date=2017-10-20 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref>

The smoke screening was also used by Iraqi anti-armor forces to a successful extent in the [[Battle of Phase Line Bullet]], having aided in achieving the element of surprise against advancing [[Bradley IFV]]s, along with increasing the general [[fog of war]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Rick |title=Crusade, The untold story of the Persian Gulf War |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=1993 |isbn=0-395-71083-9 |pages=430}}</ref>

The fires burned out of control because of the dangers of sending in firefighting crews during the war. [[Land mines]] had been placed in areas around the oil wells and military [[demining]] was necessary before the fires could be put out. Around {{convert|5|Moilbbl|m3|-4}} of oil were lost each day. Eventually, privately contracted crews extinguished the fires, at a total cost of [[US$]]1.5 billion to Kuwait.<ref>{{cite book |last=Husain |first=T. |title=Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives |year=1995 |publisher=BPC Wheatons Ltd |location=[[Oxford]] |pages=68}}</ref> By that time, however, the fires had burned for approximately ten months, causing widespread pollution.

The fires have been linked with what was later deemed [[Gulf War syndrome]], a chronic disorder afflicting military veterans and civilian workers that include fatigue, muscle pain, and cognitive problems; however, studies have indicated that the firemen who capped the wells did not report any of the symptoms that the soldiers experienced.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/syndrome/analysis/oilwell.html Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses: Final Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505222336/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/syndrome/analysis/oilwell.html |date=2017-05-05 }}, December 1996</ref> The cause of Gulf War syndrome has since been ascribed to Sarin nerve agent.<ref>[https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2022/sarin-nerve-gas-gulf-war-illness.html UTSW genetic study confirms sarin nerve gas as cause of Gulf War illness], May 11, 2022</ref>

From the perspective of ground forces, apart from the occasional "oil rain" experienced by troops very close to spewing wells,<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s05.htm#D.%20Possible%20Health%20Effects%20of%20Oil%20Fires |title=Possible Health effects of Oil fires |access-date=2014-06-06 |archive-date=2017-02-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219031156/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_s05.htm#D.%20Possible%20Health%20Effects%20of%20Oil%20Fires |url-status=dead }}</ref> one of the more commonly experienced effects of the oil field fires were the ensuing smoke [[plume (hydrodynamics)|plume]]s which rose into the atmosphere and then [[Precipitation|precipitated]] or fell out of the air via [[dry deposition]] and by rain. The pillar-like plumes frequently broadened and joined up with other smoke plumes at higher altitudes, producing a cloudy grey [[overcast]] effect, as only about 10% of all the fires corresponding with those that originated from "oil lakes" produced pure black [[soot]] filled plumes, 25% of the fires emitted white to grey plumes, while the remainder emitted plumes with colors between grey and black.<ref name="gulflink.osd.mil"/> For example, one Gulf War veteran stated:<ref name="gulflink.osd.mil"/><ref name="TAB J – Plume Configurations"/><ref name="auto1"/>

{{blockquote|It was like a cloudy day all day long, in fact, we didn’t realize it was smoke at first. The smoke was about 500 feet above us, so we couldn’t see the sky. However, we could see horizontally for long distances with no problem. We knew it was smoke when the mucous from our nostrils started to look [[soot|black]]..."}}

A paper published in 2000 analyzed the degree of exposure by troops to [[particulate matter]], including soot. However, the paper focused more-so on [[silica]] sand, which can produce [[silicosis]]. The paper included troop medical records,<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA382643 |title=Particulate Exposure During The Arabian Gulf War B. R Thomas 2000. PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124450/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA382643 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |access-date=October 5, 2016 }}</ref> and in its conclusion: "A literature review indicated negligible to nonexistent health risk from other inhaled particulate material (other than silica) during the Gulf War".

==Extinguishing efforts==
{{see also|Oil well fire}}
The burning wells needed to be extinguished as, without active efforts, Kuwait would lose billions of dollars in oil revenues. It was predicted by experts that the fires would burn for between two and five years before losing pressure and going out on their own.<ref name="youtube.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |title=Betchel Corporation ''Kuwait: Bringing Back the Sun'' |website=[[YouTube]] |date=26 September 2008 |access-date=2014-10-10 |archive-date=2021-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410171027/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The companies responsible for [[oil well fire|extinguishing the fires]] initially were [[Bechtel]], [[Red Adair]] Company (now sold to [[Global Industries]] of [[Louisiana]]), [[Boots and Coots]], and [[Wild Well Control]]. Safety Boss was the fourth company to arrive but ended up extinguishing and capping the most wells of any other company: 180 of the 600. Other companies including Cudd Well/Pressure Control, Neal Adams Firefighters, and Kuwait Wild Well Killers were also contracted.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bechtel.com/projects/kuwait-reconstruction/|title=See how the Kuwait Oil Fields were Restored|work=Bechtel Corporate|access-date=2017-07-19|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608171740/https://www.bechtel.com/projects/kuwait-reconstruction/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Larry H. Flak, a petroleum engineer for Boots and Coots International Well Control, 90% of all the 1991 fires in Kuwait were put out with nothing but sea water, sprayed from powerful hoses at the base of the fire.<ref name="sptimes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/21/Worldandnation/Fires_erupt_in_large_.shtml |title=Iraq Fires erupt in large Iraqi oil field in south Compiled from Times wires © St. Petersburg Times published March 21, 2003 |access-date=June 12, 2014 |archive-date=July 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715005928/http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/21/Worldandnation/Fires_erupt_in_large_.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The extinguishing water was supplied to the arid desert region by re-purposing the [[oil pipeline]]s that prior to the arson attack had pumped oil from the wells to the [[Persian Gulf]].  The pipeline had been mildly damaged but, once repaired, its flow was reversed to pump Persian gulf [[seawater]] to the burning oil wells.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |title=Betchel corporation ''Kuwait: Bringing Back the Sun'', animation sequence |website=[[YouTube]] |date=26 September 2008 |access-date=2014-10-10 |archive-date=2021-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410171027/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |url-status=live }}</ref> The extinguishing rate was approximately 1 every 7–10 days at the start of efforts but then with experience gained and the removal of the [[mine fields]] that surrounded the burning wells, the rate increased to 2 or more per day.<ref name="youtube.com"/>

For stubborn [[oil well fire]]s, the use of a [[gas turbine]] to blast a large volume of water at high velocity at the fire proved popular with firefighters in Kuwait and was brought to the region by Hungarians equipped with [[MiG-21]] engines mounted originally on a [[T-34 variants#Hungary|T-34 tank]] (later replaced with [[T-54/T-55 operators and variants#Firefighting|T-55 tank]]), called "Big wind".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabc.htm |title=Tab C – Fighting the Oil Well Fires |access-date=2008-02-02 |archive-date=2015-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220213449/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caranddriver.com/features/stilling-the-fires-of-war-big-wind-page-2|title=Stilling The Fires of War, A Hungarian company lashes two MiG engines to a Soviet tank and proceeds to huff and puff and blow out the worst sort of raging oil-well fire|page=2|author=Zoltan Scrivener|date=June 2001|access-date=2014-06-12|archive-date=2014-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714155748/http://www.caranddriver.com/features/stilling-the-fires-of-war-big-wind-page-2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Husain, T., ''Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives'', Oxford, UK: BPC Wheatons Ltd, 1995, p. 51.</ref> It extinguished 9 fires in 43 days.

In fighting a fire at a directly vertical spewing [[wellhead]], [[high explosive]]s, such as [[dynamite]] were used to create a [[blast wave]] that pushes the burning fuel and local atmospheric oxygen away from the well. (This is a similar principle to blowing out a candle.) The flame is removed and the fuel can continue to spill out without igniting. Generally, explosives were placed within [[55 gallon drum]]s, the explosives surrounded by [[fire retardant]] chemicals, and then the drums are wrapped with insulating material with a horizontal crane being used to bring the drum as close to the burning area as possible.<ref name="sptimes.com"/>

The firefighting teams titled their occupation as "Operation Desert Hell" after [[Operation Desert Storm]].<ref name="iadc.org">{{Cite web |url=http://www.iadc.org/dcpi/dc-novdec03/Nov3-Boots.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233742/http://www.iadc.org/dcpi/dc-novdec03/Nov3-Boots.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Environmental impact==

===Oil fire smoke===
{{see also|Nuclear winter#Kuwait wells in the first Gulf War}}
[[File:Kuwait burn oilfield.png|thumb|left|An oilfield on fire (1991)]]
Immediately following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, predictions were made of an [[environmental disaster]] stemming from Iraqi threats to blow up captured Kuwaiti oil wells. Speculation ranging from a [[nuclear winter]] type scenario, to heavy [[acid rain]] and even short term immediate [[global warming]] were presented at the [[World Climate Conference]] in Geneva that November.<ref>[http://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/6551/1/6551_1.pdf Kuwaiti Oil Fires – Modeling Revisited]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Wilmington morning Star">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6tEVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6851,2148654&dq=world-climate-conference+oil+fires&hl=en |title=Burning oil wells could darken U.S. skies |last=Evans |first=David |work=Wilmington Morning Star |date=January 21, 1991 |access-date=December 22, 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

On January 10, 1991, a paper appearing in the journal ''Nature'' stated [[Paul Crutzen]]'s calculations predicting that the oil well fires would produce a cloud of smoke covering half the [[Northern Hemisphere]], resulting in widespread cooling similar to nuclear winter; temperatures beneath the cloud would be reduced by 5–10 degrees Celsius after 100 days.<ref>{{citation |title=Oil-well climate catastrophe |first=Peter |last=Aldhous |journal=Nature |volume=349 |issue=6305 |page=96 |date=January 10, 1991 |doi=10.1038/349096a0 |quote=The fears expressed last week centred around the cloud of soot that would result if Kuwait’s oil wells were set alight by Iraqi forces ... with effects similar to those of the "nuclear winter" ... Paul Crutzen, from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, has produced some rough calculations which predict a cloud of soot covering half of the Northern Hemisphere within 100 days. Crutzen ... estimates that temperatures beneath such a cloud could be reduced by 5–10 degrees C|bibcode=1991Natur.349...96A |doi-access=free }}</ref> This was followed by articles printed in the ''[[Star-News|Wilmington Morning Star]]'' and the ''[[The Baltimore Sun|Baltimore Sun]]'' newspapers in mid to late January 1991, with the popular television scientist personality of the time, [[Carl Sagan]], who was also the co-author of the first few nuclear winter papers along with [[Richard P. Turco]], John W. Birks, [[Alan Robock]] and [[Paul Crutzen]] together collectively stated that they expected catastrophic [[nuclear winter]]-like effects with continental sized impacts of "sub-freezing" temperatures as a result if the Iraqis went through with their threats of igniting 300 to 500 pressurized oil wells and they burned for a few months.<ref name="The Baltimore Sun"/><ref name="Wilmington morning Star"/>

Later when [[Operation Desert Storm]] had begun, [[S. Fred Singer]] and Carl Sagan discussed the possible environmental impacts of the Kuwaiti petroleum fires on the [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] program ''[[Nightline (US news program)|Nightline]]''. Sagan again argued that some of the effects of the smoke could be similar to the effects of a nuclear winter, with smoke lofting into the [[stratosphere]], a region of the [[Earth's atmosphere|atmosphere]] beginning around {{convert|43000|ft|m}} above sea level at Kuwait,<ref>ftp://ftp.atmos.washington.edu/debbie/UAE-Award/Enc11-Reprints-Hobbs-etal-Cloud-Active-Nuclei/05-HobbsRadke-1992-Science-v256-987.pdf{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> resulting in global effects and that he believed the net effects would be very similar to the explosion of the Indonesian volcano [[Mount Tambora|Tambora]] in 1815, which resulted in the year 1816 being known as the ''[[Year Without a Summer]]''. He reported on initial modeling estimates that forecast impacts extending to south Asia, and perhaps to the northern hemisphere as well.

Singer, on the other hand, said that calculations showed that the smoke would go to an altitude of about {{convert|3000|ft|m}} and then be rained out after about three to five days and thus the lifetime of the smoke would be limited. Both height estimates made by Singer and Sagan turned out to be wrong, albeit with Singer's narrative being closer to what transpired, with the comparatively minimal atmospheric effects remaining limited to the Arabian Gulf region, with smoke plumes, in general,<ref name="gulflink.osd.mil"/> lofting to about {{convert|10,000|ft|m}} and a few times as high as {{convert|20,000|ft|m}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/4960296/The-Kuwaiti-Oli-Fires|title=The Kuwaiti Oil Fires|author=Hirschmann, Kris|publisher=Facts on File|access-date=2017-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193647/http://www.scribd.com/doc/4960296/The-Kuwaiti-Oli-Fires|archive-date=2014-01-02|url-status=dead}}</ref><!--The reference for this is a hardcopy transcript of the episode, excerpts on the Fred Singer talk page.--><ref>{{cite episode | title =First Israeli Scud Fatalities Oil Fires in Kuwait  | series = Nightline | series-link = Nightline (US news program) | network = ABC | airdate = January 22, 1991 | transcript =  }}</ref>

Along with Singer's televised critique, Richard D. Small criticized the initial ''Nature'' paper in a reply on March 7, 1991, arguing along similar lines as Singer.<ref>{{citation |title=Environmental impact of fires in Kuwait |first= Richard D. |last=Small |others=[[Pacific-Sierra Research Corporation]] |journal=Nature |volume=350 |issue=6313 |pages=11–12 |date=March 7, 1991 |doi=10.1038/350011a0 |quote=16,000 metric tons of actual soot is produced from 220,000 metric tons of oil burned every day. ‘My estimates of the smoke produced by destruction of Kuwait’s oil wells and refineries and the smoke stabilization altitude do not support any of the purported impacts. ''The smoke is not injected high enough to spread over large areas of the Northern Hemisphere'' nor is enough produced to cause a measurable temperature change or failure of the monsoons.|bibcode=1991Natur.350...11S |pmid=2017261 |s2cid= 4261036 }}</ref>

Sagan later conceded in his book ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]'' that his prediction did not turn out to be correct: "it ''was'' pitch black at noon and temperatures dropped 4–6&nbsp;°C over the Arabian Gulf, but not much smoke reached stratospheric altitudes and Asia was spared."<ref>{{cite book |author=Sagan, Carl |title=The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1996 |page=257 |isbn=978-0-394-53512-8 }}</ref>

At the peak of the fires, the smoke absorbed 75 to 80% of the sun's radiation. The particles rose to a maximum of {{convert|20,000|ft|m}}, but were [[scavenger (chemistry)|scavenged]] by [[cloud condensation nuclei]] from the atmosphere relatively quickly.<ref name="auto3">[ftp://ftp.atmos.washington.edu/debbie/UAE-Award/Enc11-Reprints-Hobbs-etal-Cloud-Active-Nuclei/05-HobbsRadke-1992-Science-v256-987.pdf Airborne Studies of the Smoke from the Kuwait Oil Fires Hobbs, Peter V; Radke, Lawrence F Science; May 15, 1992; 256,5059]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |first1=Peter V. |last1=Hobbs |first2=Lawrence F. |last2=Radke |title=Airborne Studies of the Smoke from the Kuwait Oil Fires |journal=Science |date=May 15, 1992 |doi=10.1126/science.256.5059.987 |volume=256 |issue=5059 |pages=987–91 |pmid=17795001 |bibcode=1992Sci...256..987H |s2cid=43394877 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1231018 |access-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-date=July 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728023037/https://zenodo.org/record/1231018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sagan and his colleagues expected that a "self-lofting" of the sooty smoke would occur when it absorbed the sun's heat radiation, with little to no scavenging occurring, whereby the black particles of soot would be heated by the sun and lifted/lofted higher and higher into the air, thereby injecting the soot into the stratosphere where it would take years for the sun blocking effect of this [[aerosol]] of soot to fall out of the air, and with that, catastrophic ground level cooling and agricultural impacts in Asia and possibly the [[Northern Hemisphere]] as a whole.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-23/news/1991023131_1_kuwait-saddam-hussein-sagan |title=Burning oil wells could be disaster, Sagan says January 23, 1991|page= 2 of 2|access-date=2014-06-07 |archive-date=2014-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006144456/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-23/news/1991023131_1_kuwait-saddam-hussein-sagan |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In retrospect, it is now known that smoke from the Kuwait oil fires only affected the weather pattern throughout the Arabian Gulf and surrounding region during the periods that the fires were burning in 1991, with lower atmospheric winds blowing the smoke along the eastern half of the Arabian Peninsula, and cities such as [[Dhahran]] and [[Riyadh]], and countries such as [[Bahrain]] experienced days with smoke filled skies and carbon [[soot]] rainout/fallout.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Meteorological Effects of the Kuwait Oil Fires | url=http://as.wm.edu/Abstracts/PatrickDowling.pdf | author=Patrick K. Dowling | access-date=2007-11-15 | archive-date=2013-10-05 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005013335/http://as.wm.edu/Abstracts/PatrickDowling.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

Thus the immediate consequence of the arson sabotage was a dramatic regional decrease in [[air quality]], causing respiratory problems for many Kuwaitis and those in neighboring countries.

According to the 1992 study from [[Peter V. Hobbs|Peter Hobbs]] and Lawrence Radke, daily emissions of [[sulfur dioxide]] (which can generate [[acid rain]]) from the Kuwaiti oil fires were 57% of that from electric utilities in the United States, the emissions of [[carbon dioxide]] were 2% of global emissions and emissions of [[soot]] reached 3400 metric tons per day.<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In a paper in the [[DTIC]] archive, published in 2000, it states that "Calculations based on smoke from Kuwaiti oil fires in May and June 1991 indicate that [[stoichiometry|combustion efficiency]] was about 96% in producing [[carbon dioxide]]. While, with respect to the incomplete combustion fraction, Smoke [[particulate matter]] accounted for 2% of the fuel burned, of which 0.4% was soot." (With the remaining 2% being oil that did not undergo any initial combustion).<ref name="auto2"/>

===Smoke documentary===
Peter V. Hobbs also narrated a short amateur documentary titled ''Kuwait Oil Fires'' that followed the [[University of Washington]]/UW's "Cloud and Aerosol Research Group" as they flew through, around and above the smoke clouds and took samples, measurements, and video of the smoke clouds in their [[Convair C-131]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N327UW|title=Photo Search Results|access-date=March 24, 2015}}</ref> Aerial laboratory.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CXvz9G1gjw| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3CXvz9G1gjw| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Kuwait Oil Fires|date=January 23, 2012|via=YouTube|access-date=March 24, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Damage to coastline==
[[File:Mummified Bird.jpg|thumb|right|A 2008 picture of the mummified remains of a bird, encrusted within the top hard layer of a dry oil lake in the Kuwaiti desert.]]
Although scenarios that predicted long-lasting environmental impacts on a global atmospheric level due to the burning oil sources did not transpire, long-lasting ground level [[oil spill]] impacts were detrimental to the environment regionally.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/bf02394670 | volume=17 | title=Environmental impact of the Gulf War: An integrated preliminary assessment | year=1993 | journal=Environmental Management | pages=557–562  | last1 = Khordagui | first1 = Hosny | issue=4 | bibcode=1993EnMan..17..557K| s2cid=153413376 }}</ref>

Forty-six oil wells are estimated to have gushed,<ref name="ReferenceB"/> and before efforts to cap them began, they were releasing approximately 300,000–400,000 barrels of oil per day, with the last [[oil gusher|gusher]] being capped occurring in the latter days of October 1991.<ref name="auto"/>

The Kuwaiti Oil Minister estimated between twenty-five and fifty million barrels of unburned oil from damaged facilities pooled to create approximately 300 oil lakes, that contaminated around 40 million tons of sand and earth. The mixture of desert sand, unignited oil spilled and [[soot]] generated by the burning oil wells formed layers of hard "tarcrete", which covered nearly five percent of Kuwait's land mass.<ref>[[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]], [[Goddard Space Flight Center]] News, [http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0321kuwaitfire.html ''1991 Kuwait Oil Fires''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150718095123/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0321kuwaitfire.html |date=2015-07-18 }}, March 21, 2003.</ref><ref name="earthshots.usgs.gov">[[United States Geological Survey]], [http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext Campbell, Robert Wellman, ed. 1999. ''Iraq and Kuwait: 1972, 1990, 1991, 1997.'' Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change. U.S. Geological Survey. http://earthshots.usgs.gov] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429014811/http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext |date=April 29, 2012 }}, revised February 14, 1999.</ref><ref name="unep.org">[[United Nations]], [http://www.unep.org/dewa/westasia/data/Knowledge_Bases/Iraq/Reports/UNEPGCIraq1993.pdf ''Updated Scientific Report on the Environmental Effects of the Conflict between Iraq and Kuwait''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728104917/http://www.unep.org/dewa/westasia/data/Knowledge_Bases/Iraq/Reports/UNEPGCIraq1993.pdf |date=2010-07-28 }}, March 8, 1993.</ref>

Cleaning efforts were led by the [[Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research]] and the Arab Oil Co., who tested a number of technologies including the use of [[petroleum-degrading bacteria]] on the oil lakes.<ref name="HMM" />

Vegetation in most of the contaminated areas adjoining the oil lakes began recovering by 1995, but the dry climate has also partially solidified some of the lakes. Over time the oil has continued to sink into the sand, with potential consequences for Kuwait's small groundwater resources.<ref name="TED"/><ref name="HMM">{{cite news |author=Heather MacLeod McClain |title=Environmental impact: Oil fires and spills leave hazardous legacy |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/legacy/environment/index.html |work=[[CNN]] |year=2001 |access-date=February 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222103323/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/legacy/environment/index.html |archive-date=December 22, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The land based Kuwaiti oil spill surpassed the [[Lakeview Gusher]], which spilled nine million barrels in 1910, as the largest oil spill in recorded history.

Six to eight million barrels of oil were directly spilled into the Persian Gulf, which became known as the [[Gulf War oil spill]].<ref name="1991 EPA Report"/>

==Documentaries==
The fires were the subject of a 1992 [[IMAX]] [[documentary film]], ''[[Fires of Kuwait]]'', which was nominated for an [[Academy Award]]. The film includes footage of the Hungarian team using their jet turbine extinguisher.

''[[Lessons of Darkness]]'' is a 1992 film by director [[Werner Herzog]] that explores the ravaged oil fields of post-Gulf War Kuwait.

Bechtel Corporation produced a short documentary titled ''Kuwait: Bringing Back the Sun'' that summarizes and focuses upon the fire fighting efforts, which were dubbed the Al-Awda ([[Arabic]] for "The Return") project.<ref name="youtube.com"/><ref name="kockw.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.kockw.com/sites/EN/Pages/Profile/History/OilFires.aspx |title=Kuwait Oil Company |access-date=2015-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519003256/http://kockw.com/sites/EN/Pages/Profile/History/OilFires.aspx |archive-date=2015-05-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Comparable incidents==

During the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], approximately 40 oil wells were set on fire in the [[Persian Gulf]] within Iraq by Iraqi forces, ostensibly to hinder the invasion.<ref name="sptimes.com"/><ref name="iadc.org"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/21/sprj.irq.oil.wells/index.html|title=CNN.com – UK: Iraq torches seven oil wells|date=March 21, 2003|access-date=March 24, 2015|archive-date=April 4, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030404015608/http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/21/sprj.irq.oil.wells/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Kuwait Wild Well Killers'', who successfully extinguished 41 of the Kuwait oil well fires in 1991, used their experience to tackle blazes in the Iraqi [[Rumaila oilfields]] in 2003.<ref name="kockw.com"/>

<gallery heights="200px" widths="220px">
File:US Navy 030328-M-0000X-005 Kuwaiti firefighters fight to secure a burning oil well in the Rumaila oilfields.jpg|Firefighters fight to secure a burning oil well in the Iraqi [[Rumaila oilfields]] in 2003.<ref name="sptimes.com"/>
File:Baghdad etm 2003092 lrg.jpg|[[Landsat 7]] CGI image of [[Baghdad]], April 2, 2003. Fires set in an attempt to hinder attacking air forces.
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Devil's Cigarette Lighter]] – a gas well fire that consumed 16 million cubic meters of gas per day.
* [[Environmental impact of war]]
* [[Gulf War oil spill]]
* [[Nuclear winter#Kuwait wells in the first Gulf War]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Against the Fires of Hell: The Environmental Disaster of the Gulf War''. Hawley, T. M., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1992. {{ISBN?}}

==External links==
* [http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabc.htm Fighting the Oil Well Fires] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220213449/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabc.htm |date=2015-02-20 }}
* [http://www.evidence.org.kw/search.php?page=1&search=oil+fires&mode=thumb Oil fire photographs taken by a Kuwaiti journalist in 1991] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320034348/http://www.evidence.org.kw/search.php?page=1&search=oil+fires&mode=thumb |date=2017-03-20 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193647/http://www.scribd.com/doc/4960296/The-Kuwaiti-Oli-Fires "The Kuwaiti Oil Fires (Environmental Disasters)"] Facts on File, Inc., April 2005, {{ISBN|0816057583}}, Author: Kristine Hirschmann

{{Gulf War}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuwaiti Oil Fires}}
[[Category:Aftermath of the Gulf War]]
[[Category:1991 disasters in Kuwait]]
[[Category:1991 in Kuwait|Oil fires]]
[[Category:Fires in Kuwait]]
[[Category:Environmental impact of war]]
[[Category:Industrial fires and explosions]]
[[Category:1991 in the environment]]
[[Category:Environmental disasters in Asia]]
[[Category:Environment of Kuwait]]
[[Category:Air pollution]]