Subject: DAMAGE ASSESSMENT - KUWAIT OIL
Not Finally Evaluated Intelligence
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REFORMATTED TO ELIMINATE INFORMATION THAT DOES NOT PERTAIN
TO GULF WAR ILLNESS ISSUES OR THAT IS CLASSIFIED. A COPY OF
THIS REDACTED DOCUMENT, IN ORIGINAL FORMAT, IS AVAILABLE ON
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KUWAIT'S OIL SYSTEM:
A PRELIMINARY DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT
KUWAIT'S OIL SYSTEM:
A PRELIMINARY DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT
KUWAIT'S OIL SYSTEM:
A PRELIMINARY DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT
KEY JUDGMENTS
INFORMATION AVAILABLE
AS OF APRIL 1991
WAS USED IN THIS REPORT.
KUWAIT'S OIL SYSTEM-A PRIMARY TARGET OF IRAQI SABOTAGE-SUFFERED EXTEN-
SIVE DAMAGE DURING THE GULF WAR. IN THE PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, AND EXPORT
CHAIN, THE DAMAGE WAS MOST SEVERE TO PRODUCTION FACILITIES, ALTHOUGH MANY
OTHER KEY FACILITIES FURTHER DOWNSTREAM WERE LEFT RELATIVELY INTACT
THE OIL WELLS SUFFERED THE MOST SERIOUS DAMAGE. IRAQ DESTROYED OR
DAMAGED OVER 80 PERCENT OF KUWAIT'S 950 OPERATING OIL WELLS.
THESE WELLS ARE BURNING; ANOTHER WELLS ARE STILL
SPEWING OUT OIL AND CREATING. LARGE POOLS OF OIL.
MOST OF THE GATHERING CENTERS-KEY CRUDE OIL PROCESSING FACILITIES
CALLED GAS-OIL SEPARATION PLANTS (GOSPS) IN SOME COUNTRIES-SUFFERED
EXTENSIVE DAMAGE
THE MANIFOLDS
CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF OIL FROM THE STORAGE TANKS TO THE EXPORT TERMINALS
WERE HEAVILY DAMAGED WHEN COALITION FORCES BOMBED THE FACILITIES TO STOP
THE FLOW OF OIL INTO THE GULF.
DAMAGE TO THE REFINERIES AND THE PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS WAS
LIGHT, BUT THE IRAQIS HAVE RENDERED THEM INOPERABLE FOR SEVERAL MONTHS
BY PLUNDERING OR DESTROYING MOST COMPUTERS AND PROCESS CONTROL
EQUIPMENT.
KUWAIT'S OIL SYSTEM:
A PRELIMINARY DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION
IRAQ'S DESTRUCTION AND PLUNDER OF KUWAIT'S OIL INDUS-
TRY HAS DEVASTATED KUWAIT'S ECONOMY AND CREATED A
MAJOR REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER. KUWAIT'S OIL
OUTPUT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY HALTED BY THE DESTRUCTION
OF HUNDREDS OF OIL WELLS AND DAMAGE TO KEY SURFACE
FACILITIES, AND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS' WORTH OF
OILFIELD AND REFINING EQUIPMENT AND STOCKS HAVE BEEN
STOLEN. THE WELL FIRES-WHICH BURN UP 4-6 MILLION B/D
OF CRUDE OIL-HAVE CREATED A MASSIVE SMOKE PLUME
THAT IS SEVERELY DEGRADING THE AIR QUALITY OVER LARGE
AREAS OF THE PERSIAN GULF REGION.1 TO HALT THE POLLUTION
AND RESTORE OIL EXPORTS, THE KUWAITIS MUST UNDERTAKE A
REBUILDING PROGRAM THAT WILL TAKE SEVERAL YEARS AND
COST BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
1 THE DAMAGE AND DESTRUCTION OF NUMEROUS WELLHEADS IS RESULTING IN
THE UNCONTROLLED FLOW OF OIL. AS A RESULT, THE WELLS ARE BURNING AND
SPEWING 4-6 MILLION B/D, WHICH EXCEEDS KUWAIT'S PREWAR CRUDE OIL
PRODUCTION LEVEL OF 2 MILLION B/D.
ASSESSING THE DAMAGE
EVERY SEGMENT OF KUWAIT'S OIL INDUSTRY SUFFERED AT
LEAST SOME DAMAGE AT THE HANDS OF THE IRAQIS.
THE OIL WELLS WERE SYSTEMATICALLY AND COMPREHEN-
SIVELY SABOTAGED.
THE GATHERING CENTERS WERE SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED.
THE PIPELINE NETWORK SURVIVED LARGELY INTACT, AND
THE CRUDE OIL TANK FARMS SUFFERED ONLY PARTIAL
DAMAGE.
THE REFINERIES SUSTAINED DAMAGE TO KEY
PROCESSING EQUIPMENT, BUT ESSENTIAL COMPUTERS AND
CONTROLS WERE LOOTED OR SMASHED.
SEA ISLAND FACILITY, WHICH
WAS DAMAGED.
OIL WELLS: SYSTEMATIC DESTRUCTION
THE IRAQIS CARRIED OUT THEIR THREAT OF A SCORCHED-EARTH
POLICY BY SYSTEMATICALLY DAMAGING OR DESTROYING
KUWAIT'S OIL WELLS-THE HEART OF ANY OIL
PRODUCTION SYSTEM.4 INDEED, IRAQ WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS
TO ENSURE THAT THE SABOTAGE WAS SUCCESSFUL. ACCORDING
TO BAGHDAD ISSUED DE-
TAILED INSTRUCTIONS TO OILFIELD ENGINEERS DISPATCHED TO
KUWAIT DURING THE OCCUPATION ON HOW TO PLACE EXPLO-
SIVES ON THE WELLHEAD AND HOW TO HOOK UP THE
DETONATION CORD SO THAT A GROUP OF WELLS WOULD
SIMULTANEOUSLY EXPLODE. THE INDICATE THAT
THE IRAQIS EXPERIMENTED MONTHS BEFOREHAND BY BLOW-
ING UP OIL WELL MOCKUPS IN IRAQ. THE OCCUPATION TROOPS
WERE INSTRUCTED TO MONITOR THE STATUS OF THE WELLHEAD
EXPLOSIVES AND THE DETONATION CORD TO ENSURE THAT THE
SABOTAGE WOULD BE SUCCESSFUL.
THE SABOTAGE RESULTED IN FIRES, BLOWOUTS, WELLHEAD
DAMAGE, AND POSSIBLE PERMANENT LOSS OF RESERVOIR
PRODUCTIVITY. APPROXIMATELY 500 WELLS ARE STILL ON
FIRE-SOME 200 OF THE WELL FIRES HAVE SMALL FLAMES AND
SOME ON THE EDGES OF THE MAIN FIELDS ARE BEGINNING TO
EMIT WHITE SMOKE,
INDICATING THAT THEY ARE PRODUCING LARGE AMOUNTS
OF WATER. THE REMAINING 300 OR SO FIRES, HOWEVER, ARE
GENERATING MASSIVE FLAMES, THICK BLACK SMOKE, AND
INTENSE HEAT. AN ADDITIONAL 40 OR SO WELLS ARE "BLOW-
ING OUT"-NOT ON FIRE BUT SPEWING OIL.
A PRELIMINARY INSPECTION BY REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
FIREFIGHTING COMPANIES OF ABOUT 25 PERCENT OF THE
OILFIELDS HAS REVEALED THAT:
AT LEAST 365 OIL WELLS IN THE GREATER AL BURQAN FIELD
ARE BURNING, AS ARE POOLS OF OIL AROUND SOME WELL-
HEADS. ASSESSMENT TEAMS HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO
EVALUATE THE SOUTHERN PART OF THIS FIELD, WHERE THE
MAJORITY OF THE FIRES ARE LOCATED, BECAUSE THE AREA IS
FILLED WITH MINES AND UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE.
SEVERAL WELLS IN THE AL MAQWA' OILFIELD TOGETHER ARE
SPEWING APPROXIMATELY 80,000 B/D OF OIL, CREATING
VAST LAKES THAT HAVE RENDERED PORTIONS OF THE FIELD
INACCESSIBLE BY LAND. FIREFIGHTERS ARE ATTEMPTING TO
IGNITE THESE WELLS TO STOP THE FLOW BUT IN MOST CASES
HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL. THE OIL IS COLLECTING IN LOW-
LYING AREAS AND IS
LIKELY TO BEGIN FLOWING DOWN SEVERAL DRY CREEK BEDS
TO THE GULF.
SEVERAL WELLS IN THE WESTERN AL MANAQISH FIELD,
BLOWN BUT NOT ON FIRE, ARE PRODUCING HIGH LEVELS OF
DEADLY HYDROGEN SULFIDE GAS.
OVER HALF THE WELLS IN THE NORTHERN FIELDS OF AT
RAWDATAYN AND AS SABIRIYAH ARE ON FIRE. THESE
FIELDS PRODUCED ROUGHLY 20 PERCENT OF KUWAIT'S TOTAL
OUTPUT BEFORE THE INVASION.
ANOTHER 200 OR SO WELLS ARE PROBABLY DAMAGED OR
DESTROYED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY BUT ARE NOT ON FIRE
OR BLOWING OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE IDLE OR HAD LOW
RESERVOIR PRESSURE
NOT ALL OIL WELLS WERE SUCCESSFULLY SABOTAGED. ACCORD-
ING TO THE FIRE INSPECTION TEAM, AT LEAST THREE HIGH-
PRESSURE WELLS IN THE SMALL DHARIF OILFIELD WERE APPAR-
ENTLY OVERLOOKED BY THE IRAQIS AND ARE INTACT. THESE
WELLS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING ABOUT 10,000 B/D EACH.
IN ADDITION, 100 OR MORE LOWER PRESSURE OIL WELLS ARE
UNDAMAGED, IN MANY OF
THESE CASES, THE EXPLOSIVES ARE STILL ATTACHED TO THE
WELLHEAD. A KEY GAS WELL-ONLY A FEW EXIST WITHIN THE
COUNTRY IS ALSO INTACT,
GATHERING CENTERS: MODERATE DAMAGE
DAMAGE TO GATHERING CENTERS WAS EXTENSIVE,
BUT RANDOM AND INCOMPLETE. APPARENTLY, THE IRAQIS
DID NOT BOTHER TO SABOTAGE THEM COMPREHENSIVELY
GATHERING CENTERS IN NORTHERN KUWAIT HAVE
SUSTAINED SOME DAMAGE
GATHERING CENTERS IN THE AS
SABIRIYAH AND AT RAWDATAYN FIELDS HAD SUFFERED
DAMAGE, WHILE THE SMALL RATQA FACILITY
WAS DESTROYED.
THE GATHERING CENTERS IN THE WESTERN OILFIELDS
WERE DAMAGED EXTENSIVELY.
IN MANY OF THE GATHERING CENTERS, THE MAIN DAMAGE
TO THE CRUDE OIL STORAGE TANKS AND TO
MANIFOLDS AND FLOW LINES FROM THE OIL WELLS,
KUWAIT'S TWO CRITICAL CRUDE OIL STORAGE FACILITIES-THE
NORTH AND SOUTH TANK FARMS, WITH A COMBINED
CAPACITY OF ABOUT 15 MILLION BARREL-SUFFERED MODER-
ATE DAMAGE.
EXPORT FACILITIES: MOST IN GOOD SHAPE
KUWAIT'S MARINE TERMINALS SUFFERED VARYING DEGREES
OF DAMAGE.
THE MINA' AL AHMADI SEA ISLAND TERMINAL-WHICH
COULD EXPORT 2 MILLION B/D OF CRUDE OIL AND HANDLE
THE LARGEST SUPERTANKERS-WAS EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED
BY FIRE WHEN THE US NAVY FIRED ON IRAQI NAVAL
FORCES NEAR THE PLATFORM IN LATE JANUARY,
MINA'AL AHMADI REFINERY SUFFERED
SOME FIRE DAMAGE
STORAGE TANKS AND A
GROUP OF PIPELINES WERE ALSO DAMAGED.
ASH SHU'AYBAH REFINERY SUFFERED
DAMAGE
STORAGE
TANKS WERE DESTROYED AND DAMAGED.
MINA' ABD ALLAH REFINERY SUFFERED
STORAGE TANKS
WERE ALSO DAMAGED.
OIL PRODUCTION OUTLOOK
KUWAIT'S MOST DAUNTING RECONSTRUCTION TASK WILL BE
EXTINGUISHING THE OIL WELL FIRES AND RESTORING THE WELLS
TO THEIR FORMER PRODUCTIVITY. GIVEN THE LARGE NUMBER
OF WELL FIRES RELATIVE TO THE CAPABILITIES OF THE GLOBAL
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY TO CONTROL THEM, THIS CHALLENGE
MAY WELL BE THE GREATEST ANY OIL-PRODUCING COUNTRY
HAS EVER FACED. BECAUSE THE IRAQIS WERE MORE HAPHAZ-
ARD IN THEIR EFFORTS TO DESTROY THE REST OF KUWAIT'S OIL
INFRASTRUCTURE, REPAIRING DOWNSTREAM FACILITIES WILL
NOT BE AS SEVERE A PROBLEM.
1.5(C)
70076:70076
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