Engineers ready to put out oil-well fires set by fleeing Iraqis

US military and private-sector engineers planned yesterday to start dousing the flames of up to 10 burning oil wells in southern Iraq.

Houston, Texas-based Boots & Coots International Well Control, with nine experts now in Kuwait, has been contracted by the US Army Corps of Engineers to extinguish the flames.

"Damage mitigation of the oil facilities would help bring prosperity to the Iraqi people, who have suffered enough under Saddam Hussein's regime," Corps General Bob Crear said.

The more than 1,000 wells in the desert oil field can produce more than 1 million barrels of oil per day. No more than 10 oil wells were set on fire in the Rumailah oil fields straddling the Kuwaiti border, compared to more than 700 wells set ablaze in the 1991 Gulf War.

It should take Boots & Coots 35 to 40 days to douse the flames and cap the gushing wells, said the team leader, who was asked by the US military not to give his name.

Progress will depend on factors such as the presence of landmines, wind direction, well geometry and access to seawater to hose down the flames, he said at a briefing.