The US is drawing up plans to move swiftly to protect Iraq's oil fields in the event of a war, fearing that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may destroy them as he did in Kuwait 12 years ago, a senior military official said this evening.
"There are a number of indications through reliable intelligence sources that those activities have been planned and that in some cases they may have begun," said the official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official, who is with the US Central Command, said the military was drawing up plans to protect the oil fields while an interagency group, which includes oil industry experts, was examining ways to mitigate any damage.
"It is fair to say the land component commander and his staff have crafted strategies that will allow us to secure and protect those fields as rapidly as possible," the official said.
The potential for damage to Iraq's post-war economy and the region's ecology is far greater than in Kuwait, where Iraqi forces set fire to hundreds of oil wells as they retreated in 1991, he said.
Iraq has roughly 1,000 wells in the south and another 500 in the north, which produce $20 to $30 billion a year in revenues, he said. Destruction of Iraq's oil infrastructure would cost another $30 to $50 billion to repair, according to US estimates.
Losses of that magnitude would have significant economic effects on countries in the region as well as on the Iraqi people, he said.