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Natural Gas fields as the name suggests are a source of natural gas which in turn are a major source of energy for almost every economy.

Recently in news is Gateway to Hell of Turkmenistan, a natural gas field crater. I was surprised to know that it had been burning for 5 decades.

It must have produced a lot of energy till now.

Is it possible to use the fire as an energy source?

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  • $\begingroup$ it was most likely set on fire to avoid any gass explosions in the area,the fact that it is still burning is a suprise and is very unexpected.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza_gas_crater $\endgroup$
    – trond hansen
    Jan 12, 2022 at 14:34
  • $\begingroup$ The information said it was sour so it was ignited to burn the poison gas ( hydrogen sulfide). So environmentalists would not let this energy be used as burning puts sulfur oxides into the air. $\endgroup$
    – blacksmith37
    Jan 12, 2022 at 21:35

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If one really wanted to, one could find a way to use the heat generated by Darvaza gas crater in Turkemenistan. Adapting the method used to construct the replacement sarcophagus at Chernobyl that was rolled into place in 2016 something could have been constructed a safe distance from the fire crater & then rolled over make use of the heat.

There are two problems with this however. The first is how much power could be generated from a "roll over the crater power station" given that it is not an ideal way to make a power plant. The second problem is the fire crater is locate in a wilderness region remote from people who could use the energy that might be generated. Power transmission lines would need to be constructed which would add to the cost and if the amount of power that could be generated was modest at best the cost may not justify doing anything.

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    $\begingroup$ Yes, a gas well may be essentially worthless depending on location. $\endgroup$
    – blacksmith37
    Jan 12, 2022 at 21:30
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If it was profitable; the way to handle this situation is to drill from a safe distance to the source of the gas and flood with cement to stop the gas flow. Then drill conventional gas wells to produce the gas for use. A variation of the control of gas/oil wells in Kuwait that were sabotaged by Saddam Husain. Not being a petroleum engineer , I am speculation at the use of cement . An evaluation of real information would be necessary to pick a good solution. The Wiki article indicates it is a failed gas well drilled by Russia, if so, drilling to an appropriate point in the original well casing to inject cement would be very feasible. Being a well , that also means the gas may be coming from a reservoir miles below the surface.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ya. But now that it is set on fire, is it possible to use the continuously burning stuff to extract energy? $\endgroup$
    – Lost
    Jan 12, 2022 at 15:55
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    $\begingroup$ You could roast marshmallows with very long sticks. $\endgroup$
    – blacksmith37
    Jan 12, 2022 at 16:35
  • $\begingroup$ Or better, stop the gas flow and NOT drill other wells and invest in clean energy instead. $\endgroup$
    – Ken Fabian
    Jan 12, 2022 at 20:57
  • $\begingroup$ @Lost Who do you suggest uses the energy? It's in a desert with one small village not far away from it. Building the infrastructure to supply the energy to anything beyond that would probably be too expensive, for the amount of energy that is being generated. $\endgroup$
    – Gimelist
    Jan 14, 2022 at 3:27
  • $\begingroup$ That is why gas wells can be worthless; you need to consider the cost of a pipeline to a market. Or electrical transmission lines. $\endgroup$
    – blacksmith37
    Jan 16, 2022 at 21:12

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