Scientists propose the idea of ​​drilling 'Hell's Gate' to put out the fire

Scientists propose drilling "Gateway to Hell" in central Turkmenistan to extinguish the crater that has burned for decades.

Darvaza crater is located in the Karakum desert of Turkmenistan and has a diameter of more than 60 m. The fire fueled by methane gas from a huge underground reserve has burned in the crater for the past five decades.

The flames at the crater of Darvaza.

The fire at the Darvaza crater has been burning continuously since 1971 due to a (old) Soviet drilling incident. Soviet scientists decided to burn methane gas to prevent this gas from spreading. They assumed that the fire would quickly go out when all available fuel had burned out.

In January 2022, the former president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, asked experts to find a way to put out the fire at the crater due to economic and environmental concerns. According to Mr. Berdymukhamedov, the crater negatively affects both the environment and the health of the people living in the surrounding area. "We are losing precious natural resources with which we can make great profits and use them to improve people's lives," Berdymukhamedov said.

Since then, Turkmen scientists have been trying to find a solution to the problem. According to the Orient site, some scientists propose drilling a well sloped to the gas reserve that fuels the crater. Aspiration from this well can control leaks and reduce uncontrolled emissions into the environment.

At a recent international investment forum in the capital Ashgabat, Bayrammyrat Pirniyazov, head of the Natural Gas Institute of Turkmenistan, revealed authorities were planning to seal the hole. Currently, the government of Turkmenistan is evaluating proposals from other countries to prevent gas leaks. Many scientists from Belarus and Slovenia also expressed interest in the plan.

While methane is a strong greenhouse gas, Mark Tingay, a petroleum geomechanical expert at the University of Adelaide, thinks that the Darvaza crater represents only a tiny fraction of Turkmenistan's carbon emissions.