Its fire burned 50 years ago Turkmenistan is one step closer to closing the “gate to hell”

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Turkmengaz Foundation experts use a specially innovative method to extinguish the Darvaz gas crater in the Karakum Desert, which has been burning for more than 50 years due to the collapse of an exploration well.

Speaking to the Russian TASS news agency, Irina Lorieva, director of the Laboratory of the Scientific Research Institute of Natural Gas, indicated that the talk is about one of the country's tourist attractions. The crater, which people and tourists call the “Gate of Hell,” and since 2018 has been officially called the “Glow of the Karakum Desert.” Experts of the Natural Gas Research Institute have devised a method of extinguishing the hole, the main essence of which is to limit the flow of gas into the well.

“Turkmenistan has made very significant progress in controlling emissions from the Darvaz pit,” she says. “The method used will eventually stop the flow of gas into this pit. We will draw down the gas reserve using wells.” Without specifying how long it will take to completely extinguish the hole.

According to her, the use of this method has already allowed to achieve a significant reduction in methane emission from the pit. Noting that the reduction will continue by accelerating the gas extraction process.”

It is noteworthy that the gas field in which the accident occurred has a very complex geological structure, characterized by many very thin rock layers located at a depth of up to a thousand meters, and that the collapse of the exploration well occurred close to the surface, so gas supplies in the field cannot be regulated.

From their study of different options to solve this problem, the Institute’s scientists came to the conclusion that the only solution is to drill a well near the field to extract gas, which may help stop the unregulated flow, that is, taking more than what nature provides.

It should be noted that this hole is 266 kilometers away from the capital, Ashgabat, and that it was formed in 1971 as a result of the collapse of an exploration well, which led to the emergence of a hole 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep, which was called the “Gate of Hell.” The height of the columns of flame emanating from the cave located at the bottom of the hole, resulting from the combustion of gas, reaches 15 meters.