Baba Gurgur
Encyclopedia
Baba Gurgur (Kurdish
: بابه گوڕگوڕ, Babe gurgur) is a large oil
field 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 located 16 kilometers northwest of Arrapha
and is famous for its Eternal Fire located at the middle of its oil fields.
and also has been described by other ancient Greek authors such as Plutarch
. Many believe the Eternal Fire to be the same Fiery furnace
in the Book of Daniel
, chapter 3 in the Tanakh
(Old Testament
) into which King Nebuchadnezzar
(ca. 630-562 BC), King of Babylon throws 3 Jews for refusing to worship his golden idol
.
It has a significant symbol
ic value for residents of Kirkuk. The burning flames are the result of an emission of natural gas
through cracks in the Baba Gurgur area's rocks. The environment near the eternal fire is saturated with hydrogen sulfide
, which caused the authority to put signs for the tourists and visitors to not stay too close or too long and to be in the direction opposite to the wind current . It is believed that the heat of the eternal flames was used by shepherds to warm their flocks during winter.
http://www.koord.com/webbook/book/aras/aras1/kerkuk.htm
Kurdish women visit Baba Gurgur, asking to have a baby boy. This ancient practice probably goes back to the time of fire worshiping.
). Oil was struck at 3 a.m. on 15 October 1927 and a great fountain of oil spurted over the crown of the derrick to a height of 42 metres. It was clear that the company had a major environmental crisis on its hands with oil being sprayed and falling in billowy clouds to the ground, threatening the local inhabitants whose properties stood in danger of being destroyed; and there was a great risk of water supplies being polluted. The oil well had been sited in a depression that carried water off the low foothills to the open desert, and the oil was escaping down this wadi.
The surrounding villages, and Kirkuk itself, were at risk of being drowned in a deluge of crude oil. Being unable to stop the flow immediately, the problem for the Company was how to contain the oil. Eventually it was decided to commence building dams in the wadi (known as Wadi Naft) at distances of about 1.5 kilometres apart and a piece of low ground was selected about 24 kilometres away from the well location which it was calculated could be easily dammed to hold several weeks of production from the well. It was estimated that 2,000 men would be required to build the dams. Men from the Jubur
tribe scattered down the Zab river settlements, and the Obaid tribe on the Hawija plain, were soon converging on Kirkuk. Vehicles collected a few of the men but the main body walked the whole way, in some cases of distances up to 60 kilometres.
A blue mist formed at night in the hollows of the low hills caused by gas pockets. One night the poisonous effects of gas collecting in a depression killed two drillers and three Iraqi workers. The risk of fire was ever-present as for hundreds of metres around everything was smothered in oil. Men were working in gas masks almost naked in an endeavour to get near enough to set up some control appliances. The oil fell evenly in clouds all around the derrick and draw-works due to the windless autumn days. At length the cloud of oil was blown away from the derrick to allow work to start on the well head. This was achieved by setting up an aero engine which, when started, created the necessary draught to clear one side of the derrick.
It took ten days from the first eruption to close the control valve and shut off the supply of oil. By the time the well was capped, over 95,000 barrels of oil a day had spewed into the desert. But the approaching rainy season raised the spectre of another disaster: if the rains came and the wadi flooded, the oil would be carried down to the river and pollute water supplies across the whole country. Pumps were urgently installed to pump the oil back into the wells, but they made little impression. Desperate to remove the oil, large quantities were set alight. When the rains came the area was clear of oil. Work on clearing up the area was completed by Christmas day 1927.
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
: بابه گوڕگوڕ, Babe gurgur) is a large oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
field near the city of Kirkuk
Kirkuk
Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
which was the first to be discovered in Northern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in 1927.
It was considered the largest oil field in the world until the discovery of the Ghawar field
Ghawar Field
Ghawar is an oil field in Saudi Arabia. It is located in Al-Ahssa, Saudi Arabia. Measuring , it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world. The field is entirely owned and operated by Saudi Aramco, the nationalized Saudi oil company...
in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
in 1948. Baba Gurgur is located 16 kilometers northwest of Arrapha
Arrapha
Arrapha was an ancient Assyrian city that existed in what is today the city of Kirkuk, Iraq. The city was founded around 2000 BC and derived its name from the old Assyrian word Arabkha which was later changed to Arrapha...
and is famous for its Eternal Fire located at the middle of its oil fields.
Eternal Fire
The Eternal Fire of Baba Gurgur (father of fire in Kurdish) is a name used to describe the flames of the Baba Gurgur oil field. It is estimated that the burning flames have been around for more than 4,000 years. The Eternal Fire was first described by HerodotusHerodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
and also has been described by other ancient Greek authors such as Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
. Many believe the Eternal Fire to be the same Fiery furnace
Fiery furnace
Fiery furnace may refer to:* The fiery furnace in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into in Daniel 3* Fiery Furnace , a region of Utah's Arches National Park* The Fiery Furnaces, a rock band...
in the Book of Daniel
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
, chapter 3 in the Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
(Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
) into which King Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadrezzar II
Nebuchadnezzar II was king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned c. 605 BC – 562 BC. According to the Bible, he conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and sent the Jews into exile. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and also known for the destruction...
(ca. 630-562 BC), King of Babylon throws 3 Jews for refusing to worship his golden idol
Idolatry
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...
.
It has a significant symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic value for residents of Kirkuk. The burning flames are the result of an emission of natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
through cracks in the Baba Gurgur area's rocks. The environment near the eternal fire is saturated with hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide
Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless, very poisonous, flammable gas with the characteristic foul odor of expired eggs perceptible at concentrations as low as 0.00047 parts per million...
, which caused the authority to put signs for the tourists and visitors to not stay too close or too long and to be in the direction opposite to the wind current . It is believed that the heat of the eternal flames was used by shepherds to warm their flocks during winter.
http://www.koord.com/webbook/book/aras/aras1/kerkuk.htm
Kurdish women visit Baba Gurgur, asking to have a baby boy. This ancient practice probably goes back to the time of fire worshiping.
Oil Strike
In 1927, an oil well was spudded in at Baba Gurgur by the Turkish Petroleum Company (the forerunner of the Iraq Petroleum CompanyIraq Petroleum Company
The Iraq Petroleum Company , until 1929 called Turkish Petroleum Company , was an oil company jointly owned by some of the world's largest oil companies, which had virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq from 1925 to 1961...
). Oil was struck at 3 a.m. on 15 October 1927 and a great fountain of oil spurted over the crown of the derrick to a height of 42 metres. It was clear that the company had a major environmental crisis on its hands with oil being sprayed and falling in billowy clouds to the ground, threatening the local inhabitants whose properties stood in danger of being destroyed; and there was a great risk of water supplies being polluted. The oil well had been sited in a depression that carried water off the low foothills to the open desert, and the oil was escaping down this wadi.
The surrounding villages, and Kirkuk itself, were at risk of being drowned in a deluge of crude oil. Being unable to stop the flow immediately, the problem for the Company was how to contain the oil. Eventually it was decided to commence building dams in the wadi (known as Wadi Naft) at distances of about 1.5 kilometres apart and a piece of low ground was selected about 24 kilometres away from the well location which it was calculated could be easily dammed to hold several weeks of production from the well. It was estimated that 2,000 men would be required to build the dams. Men from the Jubur
Jubur
Jubur is one of the Arab Tribes in Iraq that scattered throughout central and northern Iraq. Part of the tribe settled in Kirkuk in the 1970s...
tribe scattered down the Zab river settlements, and the Obaid tribe on the Hawija plain, were soon converging on Kirkuk. Vehicles collected a few of the men but the main body walked the whole way, in some cases of distances up to 60 kilometres.
A blue mist formed at night in the hollows of the low hills caused by gas pockets. One night the poisonous effects of gas collecting in a depression killed two drillers and three Iraqi workers. The risk of fire was ever-present as for hundreds of metres around everything was smothered in oil. Men were working in gas masks almost naked in an endeavour to get near enough to set up some control appliances. The oil fell evenly in clouds all around the derrick and draw-works due to the windless autumn days. At length the cloud of oil was blown away from the derrick to allow work to start on the well head. This was achieved by setting up an aero engine which, when started, created the necessary draught to clear one side of the derrick.
It took ten days from the first eruption to close the control valve and shut off the supply of oil. By the time the well was capped, over 95,000 barrels of oil a day had spewed into the desert. But the approaching rainy season raised the spectre of another disaster: if the rains came and the wadi flooded, the oil would be carried down to the river and pollute water supplies across the whole country. Pumps were urgently installed to pump the oil back into the wells, but they made little impression. Desperate to remove the oil, large quantities were set alight. When the rains came the area was clear of oil. Work on clearing up the area was completed by Christmas day 1927.