The project to extinguish the gas crater “Gates of Hell” in the Turkmen Karakum desert, which caught fire more than 50 years ago due to the collapse of an exploration mine, is at the approval stage, TASS reports with reference to Irina Luryeva, head of the laboratory of the Natural Gas Research Institute of the State Concern Turkmengaz.
The crater is also called “Shining Karakums” and is one of the tourist attractions. A fiery funnel with a diameter of 60 meters and a depth of 20 meters was formed in 1971 as a result of the collapse of an exploration mine.
Luryeva noted that the field where the accident occurred has a complex geological structure. It consists of many thin layers that lie shallow from the surface – up to 1 thousand meters. The crater will not stop burning, because there is an inter-layer, unregulated gas flow.
Turkmen scientists have studied various solutions to the burning crater problem and came to the conclusion that the only one of them is to drill a well near the field, which will take gas from all layers. “The fact is that unregulated flows can be stopped in this way, that is, to take away more than nature gives,” Luryeva said.
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The burning crater has a negative impact on the environment. In addition, natural gas is consumed, which can bring significant profit.
For the first time, scientific plans for extinguishing the “Gates of Hell” were presented in June 2022 at the international conference “Environmental aspects of hydrocarbon resources development” by the Director of the Natural Gas Research Institute of the State Concern “Turkmengaz” Bayrammyrat Pirniyazov.
Of course, efforts have already been made to study the condition of the crater. Specialists of the Turkmengaz Concern went down to its bottom. The idea was to find out the availability of the remains of the wellbore and if so, it was possible to mount the fittings with flexible pipes, so that the gas outlet could become manageable. However, the team had failed to find any remains of the borehole.
Moreover, data from producing wells confirmed that gas flows between the layers along the section. This explains the fact that a well with small gas reserves has been a source of combusting for a long time.
The Natural Gas Research Institute has developed the following plan.
Firstly, it is proposed to drill inclined operational and evaluation wells at the Darvaza field.
Secondly, to forcibly produce gas from the largest stratum of gas reserves and turn the filtration of gas stream. Thus, unregulated gas flows into the crater can be reduced.
After reaching the intensity of the gas flow, it will be possible to isolate the surface of the crater. Thus, the uncontrolled release of gas into the atmosphere will stop. ///nCa, 21 June 2023
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