Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
Turkmenistan said last month it had significantly reduced a gas fire that has been raging for half a century at a site called the “Gateway to Hell”.
The fire has been burning in the Darvaza gas crater in the Karakum Desert since 1971. Soviet scientists accidentally drilled into an underground pocket of gas and lit it.
Since then, the fire has been releasing a lot of methane. This gas contributes to climate change.
Methane gas burns when fuel, oxygen and heat come together. These three things make up the fire triangle (see graphic).
Officials said the fire – which has become the country’s top tourist attraction – had been reduced threefold without specifying the time frame.
“Whereas before a huge glow from the blaze was visible from several kilometres away, hence the name ‘Gateway to Hell’, today only a faint source of combustion remains,” said Irina Luryeva, a director at the state-owned energy company Turkmengaz.
Many wells have been drilled around the fire to capture methane, she said at an environmental conference in Ashgabat, the capital.
Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most closed countries. It is estimated to have the planet’s fourth-largest gas reserves.
The country is the biggest emitter of methane through gas leaks, according to the International Energy Agency. However, the nation’s authorities deny this claim.
