Most of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

's oil is located in the Great Burgan area (reserves of approximately 70 billion barrels) and is considered to be the world's second largest

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

. These three fields together pump 31' and 33' range crude into 14 tank farms. Great Burgan comprises the Burgan, Al-Maqwa, and Al-Ahmadi fields located south of

Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

, as well as the

Wafra oil field The Wafra Oil Field is an oil field located in the Great Burgan. It was discovered in 1984 and developed by Kuwait Oil Company. The oil field is operated and owned by Chevron Corporation. The total proven reserves Proven reserves (also called ...

. The Burgan field is known to be pressurized by seawater intrusion. While this had been speculated upon for decades, definitive proof was made evident in the 1991-92 period when the Iraqi Army used demolition explosives to break open scores of wells and set them on fire. The wells kept producing oil until capped, demonstrating to the world that natural pressure was causing the oil to flow to the surface, and pressure in nearby Saudi Arabian fields declined until the Burgan wells were capped. If the wells were productive under artificial lift the fires would have self extinguished from lack of fresh oil when the pumps were shut off. In 2006 and again in 2007 the national oil company of Kuwait has stated that Burgan is producing at its best possible rate. If true this demonstrates that Kuwait has reached peak production and can not increase its production in the future.

See also