Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has called for the “Gates of Hell” natural gas fire to be put out after half a century.
Berdimuhamedov called for a new effort to end the fire, citing the fact that the fire was hurting the environment and the health of people nearby, according to remarks reported by state media on Saturday.
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Berdimuhamedov also said the country is wasting a commodity “for which we could get significant profits,” according to oilprice.com.
The backstory, per Turkmen news site Turkmenportal, is that a 1971 gas-drilling collapse formed a giant crater just north of the capital of Ashgabad. Geologists lit a fire to prevent the spread of gas, expecting it to burn off in weeks. Instead, it’s still burning today and has become a tourist attraction.
Turkmenistan, along with some of its central Asian neighbors, has significant subterranean hydrocarbon resources. That includes 19.5 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves.
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The Turkmen government has sought to shut down the fire before but has been unsuccessful.
