{{Short description|Gas field fire}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}} {{Use British English|date=December 2013}} {{Infobox oilfield | name = Baba Gurgur | country = {{flag|Iraq}} | image = Eternal Fire of Baba Gurgur, Kirkuk, Iraq - P3110004.jpg | caption = The Eternal Fire at Baba Gurgur | region = | location_map = Iraq | location_map_width = | location_map_text = | coordinates_ref = | block = | offonshore = | coordinates = {{coord|35.5329|N|44.3357|E|type:landmark_source:eowiki_region:IQ|display=inline,title}} | operator = Iraq Petroleum Company | operators = | partners = | discovery = 1927 | start_development = | start_production = | peak_year = | abandonment = | oil_production_bbl/d = | oil_production_tpy = | production_year_oil = | production_gas_mmcuft/d = | production_gas_mmscm/d = | production_gas_bcm/y = | production_year_gas = | est_oil_bbl = | est_oil_t = | est_gas_bft = | est_gas_bcm = | formations = }}
'''Baba Gurgur''' (Arabic: بابا كركر, {{langx|ku|بابە گوڕگوڕ, Babagurgur}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Ev du meh in hinartina petrolê bi rêya boriya Kerkûk-Ceyhanê sekiniye |url=https://www.rudaw.net/kurmanci/business/06052014 |access-date=21 December 2019 |work=Rûda |date=6 May 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=مانا و ئێتمۆلۆژی وشەی کەرکوک |url=https://www.peyserpress.com/wtardetail/188 |access-date=21 December 2019 |work=Peyserpress |language=ku}}</ref>) is an oil field and gas flame near the city of Kirkuk, which was the first to be discovered in northern Iraq in 1927. It was considered the largest oil field in the world until the discovery of the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia in 1948. Baba Gurgur is 16 kilometres north-west of Arrapha and is famous for its Eternal Fire ({{langx|ar|النار الازلية}}) at the middle of its oil fields.
==Etymology== The name Baba Gurgur is derived from Bab or Baba (/bæbʌ/; a Kurdish/Indo-European word for "father") and Gur (/gʊr/; a Kurdish word for "fire; flame; haste"),<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hihnabanah borīnah: Farhang-i Kurdi-Farsī: Kurdish-Persian |author= Hahzhār (Sharafkandī Abdulrahman) |year=1997 |orig-year=1376 |location=Tihrān |publisher=Surūsh |isbn=9644350022 |edition=Chāp-i 2 |oclc=49060199}}</ref> 'father of fires', or 'the father of underground rumblings'.<ref name="mm">{{cite book |last1=Morton |first1=Michael |title=In the Heart of the Desert, The Story of an Exploration Geologist and the Search for Oil in the Middle East |date=2006 |publisher=Green Mountain Press |location=Aylesford |isbn=9780955221200 |pages=7–11}}</ref><ref name=aapg/>
== Culture == [[File:Baba Gurgur Kirkuk The Eternal Fire.jpg|thumb|alt=Baba Gurgur eternal fire in Kirkuk|Baba Gurgur “THE ETERNAL FIRE” set by North Oil Company]]
Douglas Michael Morton cites the local belief that the Eternal Fire was the ''burning fiery furnace'' mentioned in Chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel, into which King Nebuchadnezzar cast three Jews. Morton further mentions that according to Plutarch, this is where Alexander the Great witnessed "fire issues in a continuous stream, like a spring of water, out of a cleft in the earth," and was used to illuminate the streets.<ref name=mm/><ref>{{cite book |last = Yergin |first = Daniel |authorlink = Daniel Yergin |title = The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power |publisher = Simon & Schuster |location = United States |date = January 15, 1991 |isbn = 0-671-79932-0 |page = 204 |title-link = The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Plutarch |title=Plutarch's Lives, Volume II |date=2001 |publisher=The Modern Library |location=New York |isbn=0375756779 |page=168}}</ref>
The site has a significant importance to Iraqi history, and religious ceremony, visited by women seeking blessing. Conversely, local shepherds used the nearby mud to protect their flocks. The burning flames are the result of an emission of natural gas through cracks in the Baba Gurgur area's rocks.<ref>{{cite web |title=Petroleum Sector in Iraq |url=http://elearningmoo.com/en/iraq-oil-industry/ |website=Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Oil |access-date=11 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.koord.com/webbook/book/aras/aras1/kerkuk.htm|title=ئاراس - كركوك في العصور القديمة |website=www.koord.com}}</ref>
== History == Based on the recommendation of E. Wesley Shaw and Arthur Noble, Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) geologists, four wells were drilled in northern Iraq. The objective was the "Main" limestone, equivalent Asmari Formation, below the Middle Miocene Middle Fars Formation. The first well was spudded on 5 April 1927 at Pulkhana, followed by those at Injana, Khasm al Ahmar, and finally Baba Gurgur on 30 June. On 23 September, TPC chief geologist Louis "Chick" Fowle noted the Baba Gurgur had already reached the "main" limestone at {{convert|1521|ft|m}}. Since the well only had casing to {{convert|590|ft|m}}, he ordered drilling to be stopped, while casing was extended another {{convert|1000|ft|m}}.<ref name="mm" /><ref name="aapg">{{cite web |last1=Morton |first1=Michael |title=A Gusher at Baba Gurgur |url=https://explorer.aapg.org/story/articleid/3805/a-gusher-at-baba-gurgur |website=AAPG Explorer |publisher=AAPG |access-date=11 October 2020 |date=2014}}</ref>thumb|Kirkuk district, an oil gusher spouting
On 14 October, drilling resumed. At 3 a.m. on 15 October 1927, oil was struck and a great fountain spurted over the crown of the derrick to a height of 42 metres. The oil overflowed into the desert, threatening the nearby inhabitants, their property, and their water supply. Kirkuk and surrounding villages were in danger of drowning in a sea of oil, if the well could not be controlled. Earthen dams, 1.5 km apart, were needed in the wadi, and a depression 24 kilometres away, formed into a temporary catchment pond. Soon, an estimated 2,000 men from the Jubur tribe along the Zab River, and the Obaid tribe on the Hawija plain, were at work. Dangers persisted, as a blue mist of gas would form at night in shallow depressions, posing the risk of poisoning the workers, five of whom were killed. Additionally, the risk of fire was great. As the cloud of oil drifted away from the well site, work could commence on trying to close the control valve. After ten days of flow between 35,000 and 95,000 barrels of oil per day, the well was contained.<ref name=mm/><ref name=aapg/><ref>{{cite report |title=Report III of the Federal Oil Conservation Board to the President of the United States|date=25 February 1929 |page=149 |chapter=Appendix C: Petroleum resources of foreign countries and outlying possessions of the United States |last1=Redfield |first1=Arthur Huber |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |publication-place=Washington D.C. |publication-date=1929 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlRGAQAAMAAJ&q=baba+gurgur+95%2C000+barrels&pg=PA149 |via=Google Books |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref>
Iraq Petroleum Company replaced the TPC in October 1928, as development commenced to produce the Kirkuk Field. Supporting infrastructure included two pipelines to carry the oil to the Mediterranean coast, 100 wells, 12 pumping stations, oil terminals for ships, telegraph and telephone lines, air transport, rail transport, workshops and offices.<ref name="mm" />
In 2018, it was alleged that oil from Kurdish controlled Baba Gurgur went to the Turkish town of Ceyhan, and from there was secretly shipped to Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2018-04-10/ty-article/.premium/the-disappearing-tankers-that-carry-kurdish-oil-to-israel/0000017f-db9e-df62-a9ff-dfdf02f30000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411224915/https://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/.premium-the-disappearing-tankers-that-carry-kurdish-oil-to-israel-1.5980420|url-status=live|archive-date=April 11, 2018|title=Haaretz.Com|date=April 11, 2018|publisher=}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Iraq|Energy}} *Iraq Petroleum Company NOC – North Oil Company *Darvaza gas crater – another natural perpetual flame in Turkmenistan *Centralia mine fire *New Straitsville mine fire *Natural fueled eternal flames
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061127215219/http://www.noc-iraq.com/northoil_en.htm North Oil Company]
Category:Oil fields of Iraq Category:Persistent natural fires Category:Kirkuk Governorate