An infamous fire that’s been burning in a Turkmenistan desert since 1971, dubbed the “Gateway to Hell,” is finally losing steam. Or, more accurately, losing methane that has fueled it for over 50 years.
The fire started when Soviet scientists accidentally drilled into a natural gas pocket in the Karakum Desert. Their solution to the potentially deadly methane leak was to light it on fire, assuming it would burn out in a few days. It’s been 54 years.
Since then, the fire has spewed massive amounts of methane, one of the planet’s most potent greenhouse gases. It’s also no surprise that an eternally burning fire eventually became Turkmenistan’s most popular tourist attraction.
Turkmenistan has, over the years, developed a reputation for being one of the world’s leaders in methane gas leaks, according to the International Energy Agency. Understandably, the nation’s dictatorial government hates that because it makes them look incompetent. But finally, after over half a century, state-run energy company Turkmengaz announced that the blaze has now been significantly reduced to a flicker, at least relative to what used to be, which was a Hellmouth.
To shrink the fire, officials say engineers drilled wells around the eternal fire to siphon off some of the methane, effectively choking off the fire’s lifeblood.
The “Gateway to Hell” isn’t officially out. Who knows if it ever will be, considering how Turkmenistan is sitting on the fourth-largest gas reserves in the world. The nation clearly has enough methane to fuel this fire for longer than humans will probably be around. For now, at least, it looks like Turkmenistan’s hellish gaping hole might finally have cooled off a little.
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