This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
NASA caught a glimpse of Kuwait’s Greater Burgan field in southeastern Kuwait:
Situated about 40 kilometers south of Kuwait City, the Greater Burgan field is thought to hold nearly a tenth of the world’s proven oil reserves and second only to Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field (about 500 km to the south). Greater Burgan produces around 1.6 million barrels of oil per day (1 barrel = 42 gallons).
In the false-color image, you can still remnants of the oil well fires during the Persian Gulf War:
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Vegetation appears red; buildings are white and gray; water is light blue; roads are gray; and the desert is tan. In the top image, a network of interlocking roads connects individual wellheads. The parts of the desert that appear to be stained a darker brown are most likely the remnants of oil lakes and tar mats that formed after oil well fires were ignited during the Persian Gulf War. In the wider view (bottom), Ahmadi, a wealthy suburb of Kuwait City and home to the Kuwait Oil Company headquarters, appears red due to trees and lawns.
You can also see gas flares in the image (showing up as bright orange). Gas flaring is a controversial practice, especially in the U.S. in light of the shale gas boom, but rather limited in Kuwait: only 1 percent of gas is flared off by the state-run oil company, compared to 17 percent in 2005. North Dakota, for reference, was flaring off as much as 30 percent of its gas in recent years (although that is expected to decline as regulations and technology are implemented).
For more on the history of Kuwait’s oil development Geo Expro has a deeper dive on the wars, occupations, and politics of developing Kuwait’s oil resources, like this:
A team of geologists started working in Kuwait in the hot summer of 1935. They recommended drilling at Bahrah; but a 2,423m well into the Cretaceous sediments drilled during 1936-37 yielded minor oil shows only. Meanwhile, gravity, magnetic and seismic surveys were conducted in the Burgan area, and on 16 October 1936 Burgan No. 1 was spudded at a seepage. Sediments below 1,000m had oil shows, and finally, on 23 February 1938 the well hit a high-pressure sandstone unit at a depth of 1,120m. It was a gusher that at last put Kuwait on the world oil map. […] From 1938 to 1942, eight additional wells drilled in the Burgan field were all productive and yielded new payzones in the underlying Burgan Formation. However, World War II put an end to these operations.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using data from NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.