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Article: Kuwait Oil Fires, Persian Gulf War
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- Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, andSecurity
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Kuwait Oil Fires, Persian Gulf War
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LAURIE DUNCAN
When Iraqi troops withdrew from Kuwait at the end of the Persian Gulf War in early 1991, they set fire to more than 600 oil wells and pools of spilled oil in Kuwait, a parting shot that exacted a significant economic toll on the country's lucrative petroleum industry. Connecticut-sized Kuwait
contains about 9 percent of the world's total proven oil reserves, and petroleum revenues account for 95 percent of its export earnings. Ignition of oil well fires also created a serious threat to environmental and human health in the Persian Gulf region. The Kuwait oil fires burned for more than eight months, consuming an ...