Israeli armed forces "destroyed water tanks, springs and pipelines, leaving most of southern Lebanon totally cut off from mains water supply in the immediate aftermath of the war", according to UN sources.

If I begin destroying the borehole equipment and pipelines, I will have nothing more with which to bargain.

Last month, Goldman Sachs predicted that prices could reach $80 a barrel if a hurricane were to destroy production platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for a quarter of American production.

On January 26, three US F-117 fighter bombers destroyed pipelines to prevent further spillage into the Persian Gulf.

This could cost as much as $10 billion if Mr. Hussein follows through on his threats to destroy oil wells, pipelines and refineries, as he did in Kuwait during the the Persian Gulf war of 1991, the officials said.

The Army appropriated $1.9 million in November 2002 to create a "contingency plan" for what to do if Iraqi forces damaged or destroyed the nation's oil complexes and pipelines.