not about oil but .. save the wells

UK Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said up to 30 oil wells had been set afire.

British military officials said U.S. Marines are in full control of the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr and that most of Iraq's oil infrastructure on the Al Faw Peninsula is intact.

"Umm Qasr has been overwhelmed by U.S. Marines and is now in coalition hands," Boyce said

In Washington, General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday the oil fields of southern Iraq "should be secured sometime later today."

Earlier, Hoon said: "Most of the oil infrastructure on the peninsula have been secured intact. I can confirm however that the Iraqi regime has set fire to a number of oil wells ... amongst hundreds in southern Iraq.

"The primary aim of our current operations is to prevent further opportunities of such deliberate destruction, and to enable remedial action to be taken as soon as is practical."