Oil is on in Iraq

The American military crossed the desert in the south of Iraq. In the northern part of the oil fields, the Reuters correspondent, who accompanies the army units, noted the clubs of fire and smoke.

In the south in the Rumail region, lights were also seen. “In the sky, an orange glow,” said the correspondent of the agency.

The American and British military confirmed that several foci of fire were noticed on the oil fields of Iraq. However, they refused to comment on why a fire occurred.

In Rumail, up to a million barrels of oil is produced per day, reports Reuters.

Meanwhile, the British Defense Minister Jeff Hong said that 30 oil wells were on fire. Already on Friday evenings, the head of the British defense headquarters, Admiral Michael Boyce, stated that only seven wells were burning in Iraq. According to him, oil wells in the south of Iraq are reliably controlled by coalition forces. According to AP, Western experts work on extinguishing fires. “The Royal Navy confirmed the data that the oil infrastructure on the FAO Peninsula has not been destroyed,” Boyce noted. “Any attempt by Saddam Hussein to release oil into the Persian Bay and call a humanitarian catastrophe will be prevented.”

Earlier, Iranian television reported that in the border with Iraq of the Western Iranian city of Khosrov, thick puffs of smoke were observed on the other side of the border. The source of fires is ten kilometers deep into the East Iraqi border. There were assumptions about the fire on the oil pipeline passing through the city of Khankin.

Earlier it was reported that in the Basra region there is a huge glow, which is visible even from Kuwait. According to RIA Novosti with reference to the Kuwaiti media, it arose after a series of powerful explosions. It was also reported that near Basra, a rumble of heavy bombers of the forces of the US-British coalition was heard.

The day before, there was information that at least 15 oil wells were burning in the Basra. Near Basra there are more than a thousand highly debit oil wells. According to experts, fires of this scale can lead to a continuous smoke of the atmosphere, soot loss in large areas and pollution by their especially dangerous substances.