# Explain "Setting the Oil Fields on fire" please
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 20, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903 "2003-03-20T21:29:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Goo_Fee)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/1 "2003-03-20T21:29:51Z")
When I first heard that Saddam might set his oil fields on fire I envisioned the first Gulf War when oil wells spouted huge plumes of smoke and flame for weeks (months??).
But I’ve now heard (on CBS, I think) “oil fields” and “oil wells” described as two different things.
So what would happen if the oil FIELDS are actually set afire? Does that mean the entire underground ‘sea’ of oil is set on fire? Does this burn the desert above it? Does it make it totally impossible to move through it?
What the heck would it be like? Has it ever been done before? (and I hope we have to speculate on this-- that it doesn’t actually happen)
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### Author:  [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/2 "2003-03-20T21:41:41Z")
Oil Feilds are where you find a whole bunch of Oil wells in. Setting fire to 3 or 4 Oil Wells is insignificant. Setting fire to 3 or 4 Oil Fields is something very significant.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/3 "2003-03-20T21:54:06Z")
I think (but don’t know) it’s like a forest fire; what’s actually burning are the individual trees, but if you set fire to all the individual trees, you burn down the forest. If every (or almost every) oil well in the field is on fire, the oil field is on fire.
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### Author:  [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/4 "2003-03-20T22:04:18Z")
Why is there oxygen down there? Have the drilling companies been replacing the lost oil voulme with air?
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### Author:  [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/5 "2003-03-20T22:08:17Z")
Underground oil won’t burn…no oxygen down there.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/6 "2003-03-20T22:09:21Z")
I don’t think they mean actually setting the oil _reservoir_ on fire; an oil _field_ is a layout of wells over an oil reservoir. I don’t think it’s possible to set an oil reservoir on fire using conventional (non-nuclear) fire setting means.
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### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/7 "2003-03-20T22:38:11Z")
[tangent]
I have been told that there was a coal deposit in Pennsylvania that burned underground for a long time. Had to evacuate the town, etc. I was unsure how this coal was burning without air. I figured it was smoldering slowly and didn’t require much oxygen. No cite, **Anthracite** you around?
[/tangent]
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### Author:  [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/8 "2003-03-20T22:44:13Z")
USCDiver, I just read book (“A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson) about the Appalachian trail and the guy told the exact story.
There was coal smoldering underground for like the last 25 years. They had to move a whole town.
MtM
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### Author:  [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/9 "2003-03-20T22:54:38Z")
That town appears to be [Centralia](http://www.mining-journal.com/artman/publish/article_503.asp).
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/10 "2003-03-20T23:04:45Z")
Doctor Goo Fee, a guy on the news said they said them aflame in order to make a lot of smoke so we can’t see their targets.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/11 "2003-03-20T23:07:03Z")
That should be ‘set them aflame’ …
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### Author:  [@Payne\_N.Diaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payne_N.Diaz)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/12 "2003-03-20T23:27:12Z")
A guy on Fox News, some retired military expert I think, said that what may have happened is that the Iraquis tried to blow the whole field, but the special ops got there first and stopped them. They may have missed a couple of wells, which were the ones the Iraqis blew. He also speculated that’s where the Pave Low chopper that crashed was going. Just FYI.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/13 "2003-03-20T23:37:05Z")
Oil field, in this case, refers to a series of wells producing from one or more subsurface reservoirs in the same physical area. In the Middle East, many wells are highly prolific; they will produce oil and gas at surface via reservoir pressure alone, without additional artificial lift. From what I’ve read of presumed Iraqi plans to set fire to their oil fields, two main methods have been discussed: 1) using explosives to damage wellheads and set fire to the uncontrolled flow from the well (this was how the wells in Kuwait were vandalized in '91), and 2) digging anti-tank trenches, filling them with oil flowed from nearby wellheads and igniting the oil.
Oil in place generally occurs in an oxygen-poor environment (if it didn’t, it would oxidize and be subject to bacterial attack and thus dissipate), and thus it is very hard to ignite a fire in a subsurface reservoir. There is a method of production enhancement that involves creating a subsurface flame front to drive oil to producing wells, but this requires injection of air to sustain the fire, and would require considerably more technical skill than simply blowing up wellheads.
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### Author:  [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/14 "2003-03-20T23:53:59Z")
pravnik, it’s interesting that you used the analogy of trees - each producing oil well has a valve arrangement called the “christmas tree” or just plain “tree” on the surface. What we saw in 1991 and are seeing today is that individual oil wells are being set afire. One would assume this is being done to make the skies harder to navigate, create a land barrier for ground troops, divert resources to deal with the threat of more wells being torched, cause inconveniences due to low light levels, and generally to create a nuisance environment in which to operate. In the aftermath of Desert Storm, a contingent of “well control experts” came together in Q8 to put out the oil well fires. Several companies from the U.S. (Red Adair Well Control, Boots & Coots, and others) and other countries gathered to use the latest technology to bring the wells under control. Perhaps the most innovative was the Polish (yes, Polish) method of injecting water into the intake of a truck-mounted jet engine and aiming the exhaust at a runaway well - it worked like a champ.
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### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/15 "2003-03-21T02:38:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by McDeath\_the\_Mad \*
> \*\*USCDiver, I just read book (“A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson) about the Appalachian trail and the guy told the exact story.
>
> There was coal smoldering underground for like the last 25 years. They had to move a whole town.
>
> MtM \*\*
:smack: Of course…I just read the same book. Couldn’t remember where I’d heard that to save my life. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/16 "2003-03-21T04:58:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Payne N. Diaz \*
> \*\*A guy on Fox News, some retired military expert I think, said that what may have happened is that the Iraquis tried to blow the whole field, but the special ops got there first and stopped them. They may have missed a couple of wells, which were the ones the Iraqis blew. He also speculated that’s where the Pave Low chopper that crashed was going. Just FYI. \*\*
The other suggestion I’ve heard is that the Iraqi Command, Control and Communications has been heavily damaged or destroyed. If so, it would suggest that the troops in the field are acting on their last set of orders, or even going off on their own. Setting fire to 5 oil wells seems rather piecemeal and 4 scuds being lauched dosen’t seem particulary coordinatted.
Perhaps Saddam really is dead?
Just a theory.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/17 "2003-03-21T07:05:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by radar ralf \*
> **In the aftermath of Desert Storm, a contingent of “well control experts” came together in Q8 to put out the oil well fires. Several companies from the U.S. (Red Adair Well Control, Boots & Coots, and others) and other countries gathered to use the latest technology to bring the wells under control.**
I remember watching a special documentary (NOVA?) on this years ago. It was really interesting and gives you a lot of appreciation for the people who did this. The technique I remember most was that they planted explosives near the flaming, gushing spout of oil and then set them off. The concussion from the explosives would extinguish the fire. Then they had to try and cap the gushing oil. Looked very difficult and dangerous.
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### Author:  [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-setting-the-oil-fields-on-fire-please/162903/18 "2003-03-21T14:23:28Z")
Tangent - yep. Difficult, dangerous, and lucrative.