WASHINGTON, 21 March 2003 — Iraqi forces may have set three or four oil wells on fire in the massive petroleum fields of southern Iraq, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday.

“I have seen indications and reports from people that the Iraqi regime may have set fire to as many as three or four of the oil wells in the south,” he said.

Rumsfeld said he was still trying to get official information on the wells, which lie in the Rumaila fields where about 1.2 million barrels a day — or two-thirds of total Iraqi production — is pumped.

The news briefly startled oil markets.

New York’s benchmark light sweet crude contract for April delivery jumped 72 cents a barrel but then fell back. In early afternoon trade here, crude was trading at $29.90, up just two cents on the day.

“Needless to say, it is a crime for that regime to be destroying the riches of the Iraqi people,” Rumsfeld said.

Echoing an earlier warning by President George W. Bush, Rumsfeld told Iraqis to leave wells untouched.

“Do not follow orders to destroy your country’s oil, which is the Iraqi people’s, and they will need it to rebuild their country when that regime is gone,” he said.

Iraqi invaders dynamited most Kuwaiti oil wells before they were driven out by US-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War.

US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the extent of damage to the Iraqi oil fields was unknown, but world supplies including emergency stocks were ample.

“At this time, we do not know the extent of the damage to Iraqi wells or how many wells are currently affected by the regime’s orders,” Abraham said in a statement.

“As the president has said, those responsible for acts of sabotage will be held to account for their crimes. Anyone who receives an order of sabotage from the Iraqi regime should not follow those orders.”

Raad Alkadiri, country risk analyst for The Petroleum Finance Company, said the US administration had been concerned all along that President Saddam Hussein might set wells on fire.

Iraqi forces may have lit the wells up to interrupt any military move across the border, he said.