Burning oil well at Rumaila Oil Field in southern Iraq. The wells were ignited by retreating Iraqi troops when the US and UK invasion began. Seven or eight wells were set ablaze and at least one other was detonated but did not ignite. The Rumaila field is one of Iraq's biggest oil fields with five billion barrels in reserve. Many of the wells are 10,000 feet deep and produce huge volumes of oil and gas under tremendous pressure, which makes capping them very difficult and dangerous. Rumaila is also spelled Rumeilah.
