Specialists from the state concern Türkmengaz are using a specially developed method to extinguish the Darvaza gas crater in the Garagum Desert, TASS reported on Monday, citing a statement from Irina Lurieva, head of the laboratory at the Scientific Research Institute of Natural Gas at the concern.
“Turkmenistan has made significant progress in managing emissions at the Darvaza crater. This method will eventually lead to the cessation of the gas flow moving towards the crater. We will simply extract all the gas reserves using existing wells,” Lurieva said.
Irina Lurieva noted that the use of this method has already achieved a significant reduction in methane emissions from the crater.
The Darvaza gas crater, which has been burning for half a century, is located in the central Garagum Desert, around 266 km from Ashgabat. In 1971, Soviet geologists were drilling for oil in the desert when they hit a pocket of natural gas, which caused the earth to collapse. Geologists came to the decision to set it on fire to prevent methane emissions, thinking it would burn out in a short span of time. But the fire still continues to burn. The crater’s diameter is more than 60 meters, and its depth is 30 meters.
