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2d ago

Darvaza Gas Crater Flames Fade as Methane Capture Accelerates

Turkmengaz’s deployment of new extraction wells alongside the United Nations Environment Programme’s satellite monitoring system has cut methane supply to a faint smoulder.

The Darvaza Gas Crater or the Door to Hell, a burning natural gas field, in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan.
The Door to Hell burns furiously in the night sky

Overview

  • The Darvaza crater has burned continuously since 1971 after a Soviet drilling rig punctured a natural gas pocket and ignited methane to avert a toxic release.
  • Since early June, flame intensity has fallen by two-thirds, leaving only faint smouldering around the crater rim.
  • Turkmengaz has reopened mothballed wells and drilled new ones to intercept methane feedstock before it reaches the burning pit.
  • The Methane Alert and Response System project with UNEP confirms real-time reductions in emissions via satellite data.
  • Former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s 2022 order to extinguish the crater prompted the current mitigation efforts in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert.