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To: Tomas who wrote (20290)	3/14/2003 10:20:20 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 206113

High price to kill Iraq oilwell fires Warning on cost of lost revenues and rebuilding if US attacks Upstream, March 14 By Anthony Guegel Iraqi oilfields destroyed by fire during a US attack could cost between $20 billion and $30 billion a year in lost revenues, as well as requiring an estimated $30 billion to $40 billion for rebuilding facilities and refineries, according to the US Defense Department. The nightmare of an Iraqi oilfield inferno easily dwarfs the damage in Kuwait in 1991, according to oilwell firefighter and author Neal Adams, as Iraq, with 1500 wells, has more than twice as many as its neighbour, which has 700. "The firefighting is not the big expenditure. That's a relatively small cost. It's going to be the reconstruction," said Adams. "From a well control standpoint, Kuwait was a cakewalk," he added. The relatively dense location of wells and fields made it easier to resupply firefighting crews from just one or two staging areas. The wells were also low-pressured, which are easier to cap. "You can use a lot of techniques on low pressure wells that you cannot use on high pressure wells," said Adams. "That's one of the reasons that we were able to control so many wells in so few days (700 wells in eight months)." Iraq's oilfields, on the other hand, are scattered across the larger country, making logistics difficult. They also produce through high-pressure wells, which are more difficult and dangerous to handle. Fewer techniques and even fewer specialised equipment are available for such work. "There will be more firefighters killed in Iraq than there were in Kuwait because it is more dangerous," Adams warned. The US Defense Department said that it plans first to prevent the destruction of Iraq's oilfields and, if unable to do so, control and mitigate the damage quickly. Adams suggested that electro-magnetic bombs could be dropped to knock out computers and communications in an attempt to isolate Iraqi oilfield personnel awaiting an authorisation to ignite the wells from their military. Special forces could also be flown in to seize the fields and disable any explosives before Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could give any orders, he said. US military forces would be responsible for securing and protecting the oil sites, and under contractual arrangements, private sector companies would extinguish any fires and assess damage to oil facilities. The Defense Department has formulated a plan with Halliburton KBR to address assessing damage to Iraqi oil facilities for the government. A Halliburton KBR spokeswoman in Houston would not comment. However, Adams said he had no doubt that firefighting specialists such as Boots & Coots International Well Control, Cudd Control, and Superior Energy's Wild Well Control have already been contacted because of the time it takes to mobilise equipment and personnel. He suggested that Halliburton will likely work for the US government under a master services agreement, whereby it sub-contracts work to the other blowout control companies. Officials with Boots & Coots in Houston refused to comment. The contractor had just this past month been considering filing for bankruptcy protection. The US is also reported to be preparing to award as much as $1 billion in contract awards to US engineering companies to help rebuild Iraqi infrastructure after the anticipated war. Besides Halliburton KBR, Bechtel, Fluor, Louis Berger Group and Parsons are said to have been asked to bid. In December 2001 the US army awarded Halliburton a one-year logistics contract with nine one-year options -- LOGCAP III -- to support US troops deployed on missions. Services include building base camp facilities, providing utilities, transportation, warehousing, and other logistical support. Halliburton provided the US military with similar support services during operations in Somalia, Haiti, and the Balkans.