Kuwaiti oil fires — Source estimates and plume characterization

Abstract

Just before the conclusion of the Gulf War, more than 800 wells detonated with explosives were ignited by the Iraqi forces, out of which more than 650 wells burned with flames for several months and the remainder gushed oil forming lakes and pools. It is estimated that more than one billion barrels of crude oil was lost which amounts to about 1.5 2, of the oil reserve in Kuwait. The burning wells in Kuwait produced large amounts of gases such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), and the oxides of nitrogen (NO3) as well as particulates containing partially burned hydrocarbons and metals, all of which were potential for affecting human health and vegetation. In this paper, information on the statistics of the Kuwaiti oil wells fires, the data on Kuwaiti crude oil properties and the estimates on flow rates, emission of gaseous pollutants and particulates are presented. The remote sensing technique used at an early stage at the Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM RI) in identifying the distribution of burning wells in different fields is also highlighted in the paper. The paper also summarizes the smoke plume information and characterization.