OK, could find these, but anyone else catch anything on rumor North Korea is re-targeting missiles toward Alcan pipeline / Alaska oil fields - I overheard an old guy saying something about it at a mall?
U.S. firefighters stand ready should Iraq torch oil wells during war
Sun Mar 2, 2:18 PM ET
By KELLY KURT, Associated Press Writer
ELK CITY, Oklahoma - Ronnie Roles fought oil fires in Kuwait knowing unexploded cluster bombs lay hidden in the desert sand. The smoke was so thick, noon turned to night. The fire burned so hot, an ordinary hard hat would have melted.
But for all the danger in Kuwait's burning oil fields 12 years ago, Roles fears the fires could be bigger, more numerous and far more risky if a cornered and desperate Saddam Hussein turns the torch on Iraq's oil fields, as his retreating troops did in Kuwait, to disrupt the world's oil markets.
"We expect him to cause considerable more damage," said Roles, president of operations for Cudd Pressure Control, an Oklahoma company preparing for war from an office on a the American prairie.
The Department of Defense has already asked the company for a plan detailing the number of men and equipment it could send to fight fires in Iraq, Roles said.
Two other U.S. firms that spent months bringing Kuwait's well fires under control, Wild Well Control and Boots & Coots International Well Control in Texas, also say they could be ready if needed.
Iraqis damaged or set fire to 788 oil wells in Kuwait — nearly all of them — in the closing days of the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq is believed to have almost twice that number, about 1,500, and some estimates run as high as 2,500, Roles said.
The firefighters doubt all the wells would be burned, but the fires could be bigger in Iraq because there is more oil to feed the flames: Kuwait's wells pumped an average 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day; some Iraqi wells are capable of producing 60,000 to 80,000 barrels, said Bill Mahler, marketing manager at Wild Well Control.
Iraq's mountainous terrain and wetlands could make the oil far more difficult to control than the sand berms used in Kuwait's desert, as well. Even if the wells aren't set on fire, gushing oil could threaten water supplies.
"After seeing the first mess they made, there's no doubt in my mind they've got the ability to make a big or bigger mess in their own backyard," said Jerry Winchester, Boots & Coots president and chief operating officer.
Then there's simply Iraq's size hampering crews' ability to quickly reach wells.
In Kuwait, most of the damage came at the well heads. But Roles believes Iraq could set explosives deeper this time, damaging well casings. Fires that took 2 1/2 days to extinguish in Kuwait could take months, Roles said.
Security is one of their biggest worries.
Booby traps, biological and chemical weapons and the potential that some wells hold hydrogen sulfide, a deadly byproduct of oil production, are all dangers Roles believes his men could face.
But Robert Ebel, director of energy programs for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he isn't convinced Iraqi oil workers would follow any orders to blow up oil wells if they knew Saddam was about to be toppled.
"It's one thing to blow up the wells of another country," Ebel said. "It's another thing to blow up your own wells."
story.news.yahoo.com
Iraq says fire in oil well not sabotage
Tue Feb 25, 1:15 PM ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Fire broke out at an oil well in northern Iraq but the government said Tuesday that it was not due to sabotage.
"It is a small thing that happens when a new well is being dug," said Odai al-Taie, director of information at Iraq's Information Ministry. "Tomorrow it will be extinguished."
Al-Taie said he was making the announcement because of reports in the news media that a well near the northern city of Kirkuk may have been the result of sabotage.
"It isn't sabotage. It isn't a bomb. It isn't anything like that," he said. "This is an ordinary thing."
Iraq has about 500 wells around the northern city of Kirkuk, which is located near territory controlled by Kurds opposed to President Saddam Hussein
story.news.yahoo.com |
