Oil still burning in Iraq?

I have just returned from the Philippines, via Dubai arriving at London Heathrow, and I witnessed some odd things whilst on the flight from Dubai.

I have to thank the pilot of the Airbus 777 that I was on, as it was he that had brought my attention to the ground below. He mentioned that we currently had some of the best views of Kuwait. It was apparently a rare occasion to get such good clear visibility for this area.

So, I'm sitting there in my window seat,staring down at the desert below, when I suddenly see these long black plumes coming from glowing dots on the ground.

We were flying at approximately 32,000 feet at a speed of about 550mph.

It took me a moment to realise what it was that i was seeing... I was seeing the oil fields burning away. Instantly, I got my camera out (blackberry storm) and reeled off a few shots. The shots are a bit blurred due to movement and having to shoot through two panes of glass from the cabin, yet you can make out the black plumes quite easily.
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Obviously these are not very clear, yet I was able to make out the glowing fires far below.. even in the broad daylight. I made a mental note to check out Google Earth when I got home, and here is what I found...
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Why are these oil fields on fire? Were they ever put out once hostilities and control of the area was in hand? Why is camp Udairi located so close to these oil fields, yet still they burn? Why do we have global warming shoved in our faces when we have massive clouds of black smoke rising into the air 24 hours a day? Why are fuel prices still rising when oil is obviously being wasted?

Here is camp Udairi;
maps.google.com...,47.427495&z=14&t=h&hl=en

Kuwait is often referred to as being "the NTC" of the Middle East. Camp Udairi, Kuwait is located about 10 miles from Iraq. Udairi Training range, located only 15 miles from the Iraqi border, is about 45 miles northwest of Kuwait City and 30 miles south of the Iraqi border. The Udairi [Udayri] Range is a training facility about 20 kilometers by 27 kilometers in size. The range has been open since at least 1994, when it was reported that US B-52 and B-1B's took part in live-fire exercises at the facility.

www.globalsecurity.org...

for those who have trouble using the locations listed in the pics I have posted, here is a Google map link of one of the areas in question;
maps.google.com...,47.39228&z=16&t=h&hl=en

And before anyone says that these images must have been taken ages ago, well, I took mine just yesterday and if you look at the Google Earth images I have posted the images are clearly dated 2010.

Can anyone provide a reasonable answer as to why so many of these fields are (still) burning?

btw, the flight path of the airbus 777 left Dubai, flew over Kuwait bay and onwards directly over Baghdad for those of you who wish to trace this route to see even more of the other burning fields I saw.

as an iraqi this saddens me, nice post though...

i'm trying to find out since when those oil fields have been burning... i'll get back to you with any useful information

What's an Airbus 777? I presume you mean Boeing 777.

[edit on 26/4/2010 by C0bzz]

reply to post by Extralien


Whoa! Now, that is interesting. I am somewhat perplexed as why those oil fields are burning as well. That is Iraq's life-blood being wasted in a plume of black smoke. Have they fallen into the hands of insurgents, or something else? Have the US and Iraqi government been mum about the whole thing? It is very interesting as you have said, when everyone has been led to believe that major hostilities have subsided at present and Iraqi oil infrastructure is now secure.

Then, US forces are scheduled to be out of the country in 2012 as indicated by the Pentagon, the Obama Administration, and leading US General in Iraq, Ray Ordierno. What you have here my friend, may be a bombshell in the making. I would like to know more about it as well. Thanks for sharing, and it is troubling all that money that could be helping Iraq get back on its feet going to waste by these photos.

[edit on 26-4-2010 by Jakes51]

Yeah, we were initially told it would be years, if not a decade at least to put out all of the oil field fires. Then suddenly there were all out within I think it was 2 years.
Just just confirms that. Again....we were all lied to. And most everyone bought it.

reply to post by C0bzz


lol, thank you for the correction.. I still haven't landed properly..

I flew out on the Airbus A380, but returned on the Boeing 777.. Guess I got kinda mixed up



As for the other posters, I too thought the fires had been put out. Does Iraq have that many fields that it takes so long to put them out anyway?

Why did the USA feel the need to spend so much on their super massive, super secure embassy in Iraq when they could have used the time to more effectively stop the pollution and waste of the oil fields?

Why is the army (of any nation) not involved in the active control of fire extinguishing?

From what I remember, putting out a fire like this is quite a tough job. I think you have to cap it off, effectively choking the fire off of the oil itself rather than trying to eliminate the flames.

It's not as though we get constant updates about how well these fires are being controlled... we don't even hear about how much oil is being lost. I am surprised at that as there must surely be someone out there who is concerned about the loss of profit, unless they know something we don't...

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said 11 Iranian soldiers had taken control of the Fakka oilfield in a remote desert area of southeastern Iraq, in a "violation of Iraqi sovereignty."

"Iraq demands the immediate withdrawal from well No. 4 and the Fakka oilfield, which belongs to Iraq. Iraq is looking for a peaceful and diplomatic settlement to this issue," he said.

www.reuters.com...

Maybe, this has something to do with what you saw on your flight over Iraq? Bear in mind the article above is from Dec. 12 of last year, but maybe the dispute remains open? If the Iranian troops are in Iraq near the oil fields, they may be lighting them on fire to leverage the Iraqi government for something? Perhaps exclusive rights to the fields mentioned above and more within the border, that Iran claims to be owners of? Iran has been making militaristic moves in the gulf lately, with recent war games in the strait of Hormuz, major weapons deals with Russia and China, and a contingent of Ouds Force shock troops allegedly being sent to Venezuela. I will keep looking to see if this matter has been resolved between the Iraqi and Iranian governments.

Originally posted by Extralien
reply to post by C0bzz

 

Why is the army (of any nation) not involved in the active control of fire extinguishing?

Why aren't the Iraqis putting them out?

For a number of years Google would not show the burning oil wells. I wonder why they are showing them now? They are burning for the same reason that Saddam set them on fire. If you are going to steal other people's oil, then the resisstance would rather see it burn.

Flare stacks..... nothing new....

TextIn the vicinity of the Quds complex, I notice several towering flare stacks across the street from the power plant, at an oil field called East Baghdad. Atop one of the stacks, an enormous orange flame indicates that natural gas pouring out of the oil deposits is being burned off steadily to keep it from exploding. Such flaring goes on continually all over Iraq. It is so widespread in the huge southern oil fields west of Basra that it actually fills the night sky with light.

link

They can make quite the show at night..... and loud too...

reply to post by airteck


I really can't understand how burning gas can cause these huge amounts of black smoke.

As far as I am aware, this smoke could only come from burning the oil itself. I am yet to see burning gas give off smoke, especially in the quantities pictured.

When I was in Iraq in 2008, it was not uncommon for the insurgents to set the oil pipelines on fire. It was really strange, I would wake up and it looked like it was going to rain that day. Little did I know that it was all just smoke.

Originally posted by Styki
When I was in Iraq in 2008, it was not uncommon for the insurgents to set the oil pipelines on fire. It was really strange, I would wake up and it looked like it was going to rain that day. Little did I know that it was all just smoke.

That is what I thought when I saw those photos, and maybe they are under control of insurgents. What seems odd is the official story from the Iraqi government and US forces in the region about the oil fields being secured. Then, I saw that story about border incursions by Iranian military forces in southeastern Iraq, and how they commandeered an Iraqi oil sight. So, maybe something is going on that we have not been made privy to up to this point? Thanks for sharing you first hand insight on the topic.

reply to post by Jakes51


What strikes me as odd is the amount of fields on fire.
I can understand one or two being overrun by somebody who then sets fire to them, but if you go to google earth and actually look around the area, you'll see there are quite a few alight, as seen in the pics i've posted.

These pics are not all the sites...just a few random samples. I have found four other sites since then and I'm sure I can find more.

They are quite easy to spot once you get to grips with the way the terrain looks.

reply to post by Extralien


Wow! I did not know it was as widespread as you have mentioned. This could be big, and I would like to know why Iraqi's oil is apparently going up in flames? Do you have any more Google photos you could post of other geographic locations? I would love to see them.

I am going to keep looking into this and see if there is anymore about this. So far, I have only found that story about the Iranian military border crossing and seize of an Iraqi oil field. Maybe this is nothing, or maybe it is something? Keep up the good work, and very interesting stuff here!

[edit on 26-4-2010 by Jakes51]

That is not oil fields on fire, it is flare stacks.

I have seen Iraqi oil fields on fire and those smoke trails are nowhere near thick or big enough.

It may be more than flare stacks? Apparently production is down in Iraqi oil production. Sabotage is one of the prime factors along with other reasons.

Iraq Oil Exports Down On Sabotage, Power Cuts, Bad Weather Official

Iraq's crude oil exports for the first 25 days of April stood at 1.7 million barrels a day, compared with 1.84 million barrels a day last month, on a combination of bad weather and sabotage, an Iraqi oil official said Monday.

www.nasdaq.com... d-weather-official

So, perhaps insurgents are back at it again? I saw the NASDAQ article and I thought it would help put things into perspective about this issue. Hopefully, it is only flare stacks emitting the plumes and not individuals lighting them on fire. Production is still down.


[edit on 26-4-2010 by Jakes51]

Well, this is getting to be quite an education..

It would appear that some flare stacks do indeed give off smoke when burning gas, although others seem not to.

Perhaps it is something to do with temperature or type of gas.
Check these images for examples;
home-and-garden.webshots.com...
www.fg-international.nl...
croilfieldrentals.com...
travel.webshots.com...

but even still, there is a lot of this burning going on in Iraq right now.

As a further comparison, here are some actual oil well fires..
It's a bit hard to decide which is which in my original pictures and GE images. But we have to take a few things into consideration and that is that some of these smoke plumes are seen on GE from 71 miles up and I saw flames at the bases of smoke plumes whilst I was sat in an aircraft at approx 33,000 feet up.
So what is it? Gas burn off or oil? Perhaps it is a mix of both. looking at the oil well fires, not all of them are giving off smoke either;
www.users.cloud9.net...
www.alaska-in-pictures.com...
legalplanet.files.wordpress.com...
www.parstimes.com...
this one below is very similar in the ones I have found on GE
www.earthspots.com...

Here's a few more sites that are burning;
maps.google.com...,47.327641&z=17&t=h&hl=en
maps.google.com...,47.329784&z=17&t=h&hl=en
maps.google.com...,47.332308&z=17&t=h&hl=en
maps.google.com...,47.59874&z=16&t=h&hl=en
maps.google.com...,47.341857&z=16&t=h&hl=en
maps.google.com...,47.415492&z=17&t=h&hl=en
maps.google.com...,47.621728&z=16&t=h&hl=en

more and more just keep popping up.. obviously, some are not as bad/big as others..

Why are you surprised. There is a whole for one of the first gas wells drilled in Alberta that has been on fire for ... oh I'd have to check to be exact but about a hundred years.

I have noticed that everyone on here is saying the attacks on the oil production facilities are done by insurgents. Insurgents is not the right word for these people. They are the ressistance. They are ressisting, not insurging. If you use the word insurgent you have been propagandized into it. The word ressistance is not used by the media to cover up the fact that the majority of the invaded people there want to resist the occupying forces.