Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Iraq oil fires add risk to push on Mosul
Militants set blazes earlier; smoke now imperils air operations, those fleeing city
WASHINGTON — A fire at one of Iraq’s oil fields could hinder military and humanitarian efforts as operations to recapture the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul get underway.
Smoke continues to billow into the air from the Qayara oil field, damaged by Islamic State militants last month as they fled the town, creating health risks for civilians and troops amassing there. The fires are also clogging up the skies in the area, where critically important airstrikes and aerial reconnaissance missions are taking place almost daily.
Located on the west bank of the Tigris River, about 40 miles south of Mosul, Qayara has since become an important staging ground for military and humanitarian efforts ahead of the Mosul operation since it was recaptured by Iraqi forces last month.
“Stabilizing Qayara can’t wait — it has to happen now,” said Lise Grande, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Iraq.
“Everything for the Mosul operation hinges on Qayara,” she said. “It’s the staging ground for military forces and it’s where 350,000 of the 1 million people who are expected to flee [Mosul] will either find shelter or pass through.”
There are slow-going Iraqi efforts to contain the fires, but nearly a month after the town was recaptured from the militants, smoke and toxic fumes continue to pollute the air in and around Qayara.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman, Assem Jihad, said Wednesday that the Islamic State militants set fire to 11 oil wells in Qayara to derail security forces and wreak havoc in the area as they fled. He said fires at nine of the wells have been extinguished, but two continue to burn powerfully.
“It does cause some problems. It certainly doesn’t stop anything,” said Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.led military coalition in Baghdad. “The Iraqis have asked for coalition help to determine what can be done to put those fires out. We’ll do what we can to support them.”
The images of smoke and flames from the oil wells are reminiscent of the oil fires in Kuwait after the Iraqi military reportedly set fire to hundreds of wells when Saddam Hussein invaded the neighboring Persian Gulf nation in the early 1990s.
“In putting out the fires in Kuwait, the firefighters used water pipes and pumped the water from the Persian Gulf to spray at the base of the fires,” said Kourosh Kian, an expert in petroleum drilling and reservoir engineering.
Kian, a system engineer at GE Aviation, said the simplest method to extinguish these types of fires is to inject water under high pressure at the base of the fire. Since Qayara is on the Tigris River, there would be no problem with the water supply, he said.