Gulf War oil spill

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The Gulf War oil spill was one of the largest oil spills in history, resulting from the Gulf War in 1991.[1] The apparent strategic goal was to foil a potential landing by US Marines. It also made commandeering oil reserves dangerous for US forces as visibility and movement were inhibited. [2] The immediate reports from Baghdad said that American air strikes had caused a discharge of oil from two tankers. Coalition forces determined the main source of oil to be the Sea Island terminal in Kuwait.[3] On January 26, three US F-117 fighter-bombers destroyed pipelines to prevent further spillage into the Persian Gulf.[4] Several other sources of oil were found to be active: tankers and a damaged Kuwaiti oil refinery near Mina Al Ahmadi, tankers near Bubiyan Island, and Iraq's Mina Al Bakr terminal.[5]

Environmental impact[edit]

Early estimates on the volume spilled ranged around 11,000,000 US barrels (1,300,000 m3).[6] These numbers were however significantly adjusted downward by later, more detailed studies, both by government (4,000,000 US barrels (480,000 m3) to 6,000,000 US barrels (720,000 m3)) [7] and private (2,000,000 US barrels (240,000 m3) to 4,000,000 US barrels (480,000 m3)) researchers.[8]

The slick reached a maximum size of 101 miles (160 km) by 42 miles (68 km) and was 5 inches (13 cm) thick in some areas. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the size of the spill, figures place it several times [9] the size (by volume) of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.



Dr. Jacqueline Michel, US geochemist (2010 interview – transcript of radio broadcast):[11]


Dr. Hans-Jörg Barth, German geographer (2001 research report):[12]



See also[edit]


  1. ^
  2. ^ "Timeline: 120 years of major oil spills". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. May 4, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010. 
  3. ^ World's Largest Oil Spills Map
  8. ^ Hosny Khordagui; Dhari Al-Ajmi (July 1993), "Environmental impact of the Gulf War: An integrated preliminary assessment", Environmental Management, Springer New York, Volume 17 (Number 4), pp. 557–562, doi:10.1007/BF02394670, ISSN 0364-152X 
  9. ^
  12. ^ "Microsoft Word - Gulfreport.d" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-05-14. 
  13. ^ "Confusion over scale of oil spill pollution: Infobox "Damage warnings can be overdone"9a.html".