The onshore Burgan Field in the desert of southeastern Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

 is one of the world's largest and richest oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

s.

Discovery

After its discovery in February, 1938, the USA and UK-owned Kuwait Oil Company began commercial oil production at Burgan in 1946. The oil field is so rich that it is one of the world's easiest production sites. There are no rising and falling oil derricks at Burgan, as seen at other oil fields. Instead, there are electric submersible pumps (ESPs) drawing off the oil as it flows to the surface on its own. Burgan has helped Kuwait become one of the largest oil exporters on the planet. It accounts for more than half of Kuwait's proven oil reserves.

Production capacity

Production capacity peaked at 1700000 oilbbl/d in 2005 and subsequently declined. The International Energy Agency predicts an output of 1640000 oilbbl/d in 2020, 1530000 oilbbl/d in 2030.

Iraq war

In 1991, retreating Iraqi soldiers set Burgan Field on fire

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 invading the country but being driven out by Coalition military forces...

. Smoke plumes from the Greater Burgan oil field extended 50 kilometers in width on any given day, and 2.5 km thick. From satellite observations the plume appeared like a black snake in the desert that extended parallel to the Persian Gulf (EOS Project NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 Goddard Space Flight Center

Goddard Space Flight Center

The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...

). The Red Adair Service and Marine Company extinguished 117 of the burning well fires, while the Canadian company Safety Boss

Safety Boss

SafetyBOSS is an oil well fire fighting company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.The company and its CEO, Mike Miller, became most famous by becoming the number one fire-fighting company in Kuwait after the 1991 Gulf War. The company doused 180 out of the 600 fires, more than any other company...

 set the pace with 180 wells extinguished. Declassified 1991 CIA documents claimed that despite the destruction there was no significant depletion of the oil reserves and drop in production capacity at Burgan field. Three gathering stations were, however, too badly damaged to repair.

External links

• The World's Giant Oil Fields by Matthew Simmons
  Matthew Simmons
  Matthew Roy Simmons was founder and chairman emeritus of Simmons & Company International, and was a prominent advocate of peak oil. Simmons was motivated by the 1973 energy crisis to create an investment banking firm catering to oil companies. In his previous capacity, he served as energy...
  
  Research Report of Simmons & Co. International