Kuwaiti oil fires
The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 after conquering the country but being driven out by Coalition military forces (see Gulf War). The fires started in January and February 1991 and the last one was extinguished by November 1991.[1]
The resulting fires burned out of control because of the dangers of sending in firefighting crews. Land mines had been placed in areas around the oil wells, and a military cleaning of the areas was necessary before the fires could be put out. Somewhere around 6 million barrels (950,000 m3) of oil were lost each day. Eventually, privately contracted crews extinguished the fires, at a total cost of US$1.5 billion to Kuwait.[2] By that time, however, the fires had burned for approximately ten months, causing widespread pollution.
The byproducts of the petroleum burn caused pollution to the soil and air, and the oil fires have been linked with what was later called Gulf War Syndrome. Whether this syndrome has been caused by the oil fires, by chemical attack, or other causes has not been determined, and the longterm environmental effects of the fires have yet to be fully understood.
During Operation Desert Storm, Dr. S. Fred Singer debated Carl Sagan on the impact of the Kuwaiti petroleum fires on the ABC News program Nightline. Sagan said we know from the nuclear winter investigation that the smoke would loft into the upper atmosphere and that he believed the net effects would be very similar to the explosion of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in 1815, which resulted in the year 1816 being known as the Year Without a Summer, in massive agricultural failures, in very serious human suffering and, in some cases, starvation.
He predicted the same for south Asia, and perhaps for a significant fraction of the northern hemisphere as well as a result. Singer, on the other hand, said that calculations showed that the smoke would go to an altitude of about 3,000 feet (910 m) and then be rained out after about three to five days and thus the lifetime of the smoke would be limited.[3]
In retrospect, it is now known that smoke from the Kuwait Oil Fires dominated the weather pattern throughout the Persian Gulf and surrounding region during 1991, and that lower atmospheric wind blew 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 fallout.[4]
The companies responsible for extinguishing the fires initially were Red Adair Company (now sold off to Global Industries of Louisiana), Boots and Coots (now Boots and Coots/IWC), Wild Well Control. Other companies including Safety Boss, Cudd Well/Pressure Control, Neal Adams Firefighters, and Kuwait Wild Well Killers were also contracted. All the wells were eventually fully extinguished and brought back under control.
Motives
By the eve of the Iraqi invasion, Kuwait had set production quotas to almost 1.9 million barrels per day (300,000 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.[5]
Environmental impact
see also: Nuclear Winter
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 types scenario, to heavy acid rain and even short term immediate global warming were presented at the World Climate Conference in Geneva that November.[6][7]
Nearly 700 oil wells were set ablaze by the retreating Iraqi army and the fires were not fully extinguished until November 6, 1991, eight months after the end of the war.[8] The fires consumed an estimated six million barrels of oil daily.
Their immediate consequence was a dramatic decrease in air quality, causing respiratory problems for many Kuwaitis. The sabotage of the oil wells also impacted the desert environment, which has a limited natural cleansing ability. Unignited oil from the wells formed about 300 oil lakes that contaminated around 40 million tons of sand and earth. The mixture of desert sand with the unignited oil and soot formed layers of "tarcrete" which covered nearly five percent of the country.[9] Cleaning efforts led by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and the Arab Oil Co., who have tested a number of technologies including the use of petroleum-degrading bacteria, produced significant results. According to a 1992 study from Peter Hobbs and Lawrence Radke daily emissions of sulfur dioxide were 57% of that from electric utilities in the United States, emissions of carbon dioxide were 2% of global emissions and emissions of soot were 3400 metric tons per day.[10]
Scenarios that predicted serious environmental impact on a global level did not happen.[11] At the peak of the fires, the smoke absorbed 75 to 80% of the sun’s radiation. The particles were never observed to rise above 6 km and when combined with scavenging by clouds gave the smoke a short residency time in the atmosphere and localized its effects.[10]
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 as yet unknown consequences for Kuwait's precious groundwater resources.[5][12]
Popular culture
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. The Kuwaiti oil fires are also featured in Werner Herzog's 1992 film Lessons of Darkness.
The oil fires and black rain were also featured in the 2005 film Jarhead, as well as the video game Eternal Darkness. There was also a flyover of the oil fires in the movie Baraka. The Discovery Channel filmed a documentary series about "The Inventors" which interviewed Branko Babic about his Displacement Tube and Counter Pressure Plugs, patent applied for inventions designed to contain the burning oil wells.
The 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate included a scene set in Kuwait in February 1991, with burning oil fields visible in the background.
See also
References
- ^ Wellman, Robert Campbell (14 February 1999). ""Iraq and Kuwait: 1972, 1990, 1991, 1997." Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change". U.S. Geological Survey. http://earthshots.usgs.gov. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ Husain, T. (1995). Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives. Oxford: BPC Wheatons Ltd. p. 68.
- ^ "FIRST ISRAELI SCUD FATALITIES OIL FIRES IN KUWAIT". Nightline. 1991-01-22. ABC. yes.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ Patrick K. Dowling. "The Meteorological Effects of the Kuwait Oil Fires" (PDF).
- ^ a b "The Economic and Environmental Impact of the Gulf War on Kuwait and the Persian Gulf". The Trade & Environment Database. American University. 2000-12-01. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
- ^ KUWAITI OIL FIRES - MODELING REVISITED
- ^ Wilmington morning Star January 21’st, 1991
- ^ GulfLink Summary of Oil Well fires
- ^ http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0321kuwaitfire.html
- ^ a b Airborne Studies of the Smoke from the Kuwait Oil Fires. Peter V. Hobbs and Lawrence F. Radke, Science. May 15, 1992
- ^ Environmental impact of the Gulf War: An integrated preliminary assessment. Hosny Khordagu, Dhari Al-Ajmi. Environmental Management, Volume 17, Number 4 / July, 1993M
- ^ Heather MacLeod McClain (2001). "Environmental impact: Oil fires and spills leave hazardous legacy". CNN. Archived from the original on 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2007-02-03.
- Against the Fires of Hell: The Environmental Disaster of the Gulf War. Hawley, T. M., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1992.
- The story of Branko Babic a lone inventor, was documented by the Discovery Science Channel “The Inventors” on shown on Sky TV.
External links