3.5 billion tons of oil discovered in the desert, why no one dares to exploit it? What's the reason behind

There is such a place in the world with oil reserves as high as 3.5 billion tons, but no one is exploiting it. Where is this place? Such rich oil resources are not exploited, what are the reasons behind it? Today we will talk about this topic.

There is a desert called Karakum in Central Asia. It is located in Turkmenistan, west of the Amu Darya River. The Karakum Desert covers an area of ​​350,000 square kilometers and occupies 70% of Turkmenistan's land area. It is also the driest in the world. one of the regions.

In 1971, the former Soviet Union sent people to this place for exploration, and found that there are rich oil and natural gas resources hidden under the endless Karakum Desert. Unexpectedly, a landslide occurred during the exploration process. The deep pit instantly appeared on the surface, and natural gas would spew out of the deep pit.

Because the main component of natural gas is formaldehyde, and formaldehyde will replace oxygen. At this time, it is difficult for the nearby creatures to survive normally, and the surrounding wild animals and plants gradually wither and die. The significance of oil to modern technology is self-evident. If the natural gas eruption in the deep pit is controlled, it is impossible to continue to extract oil. How should we deal with such a situation?

The Soviets at that time had a simple and crude idea, that is to set fire in a deep pit, let the natural gas in it burn out, and then go to extract oil, and estimated that the burning time would take about 2 weeks, but unexpectedly Unexpectedly, the burning could not be stopped. A week later, they found that the fire was still burning. One month, one year, and five years later, the pit was still burning with blazing fire.

Today, more than 50 years later, the fire has not stopped. Maybe it will continue to burn in the next few decades. According to data, the oil and natural gas consumed by the fire is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Since then , This burning pit in the Karakum Desert is called the "Gate of Hell", and this endless fire is also called "The Fire of Hell", why is there still no one to mine there What about oil?

There are mainly the following reasons. The first raging fire stopped the pace of exploitation. To successfully exploit Karakum's oil resources, the fire that has been burning for decades must be extinguished. How can we extinguish this fire? It is unknown how much it will cost to put out the fire, which leaves many miners helpless, so they choose to give up the development here. After all, other nearby countries also have rich oil reserves, and there are not so many unfavorable factors.

The oil export market is limited, and the demand for exploitation is not large. The Karakum Desert belongs to Turkmenistan. This country is one of the former Soviet Union countries. The proven natural gas reserves are about 50 trillion cubic meters, which is the world's total. 1/10 of the reserves, the oil reserves are nearly 3.5 billion tons.

Although it is not as many as the Middle East countries, it is already very rich. In fact, in the 1960s, the country had already carried out oil and natural gas development. At that time, it mainly supplied oil and gas resources to the member states of the Soviet Union. After the disintegration, Russia no longer needs oil and gas energy so much, and Turkmenistan itself does not have a developed industrial system, and there is not much demand for oil and gas energy.

Third, the geographical location far from the ocean has led to a significant increase in transportation and mining costs. Turkmenistan cannot find an outlet in the interior of the Eurasian continent. Therefore, Turkmenistan cannot transport energy by ship. If it is transported by land, it needs to pass through the territory of other countries. This undoubtedly increases the transportation cost significantly.

Compared with cheaper oil from nearby countries such as Iran, Kazakhstan, and Russia, there is no advantage at all, so the need for local oil extraction is once again reduced, especially for the deep oil fields of the Karakum Desert , If you want to mine, you have to inject a lot of water into it to extract the internal oil, but the Karakum Desert is one of the driest areas in the world and is extremely water-deficient, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of mining.

Fourth, the development capacity is limited. Because Turkmenistan is limited by its own development, the foundation required for mining such as capital and talents is not very complete, especially the lack of core and key technologies for oil and gas exploration in the local area. If the oil is exploited blindly, it will cause resources Waste, based on the above reasons, Turkmenistan has not yet exploited the oil in the Karakum Desert, but it is a pity that it cannot exploit such rich resources. It has a natural cornucopia, but it is very difficult to make it work. A frustrating thing.