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Devil's Cigarette Lighter
The Devil's Cigarette Lighter was a natural gas well fire at Gassi Touil in the Sahara Desert of Algeria. Ignited by static electricity when a pipe at the GT2 well ruptured on November 6, 1961, the Phillips Petroleum Company/OMNIREX/COPEFA-owned well produced more than of natural gas per second, whose flame rose between and . The flame was seen from orbit by John Glenn during the flight of ''Friendship 7'' on February 20, 1962. The blowout and fire were estimated to have consumed enough gas to supply Paris for three months, burning per day. After burning almost six months, the fire was extinguished by well fire expert Red Adair, who used explosives to deprive the flame of oxygen. The exploit made Adair a celebrity. Adair worked the fire with Asger "Boots" Hansen and Ed "Coots" Matthews, who later formed the Boots & Coots well control company. Preparations took five months while Adair's team cleared wreckage from near the wellhead with shielded bulldozers, dug wells, and excav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also usually present. Natural gas is colorless and odorless, so odorizers such as mercaptan (which smells like sulfur or rotten eggs) are commonly added to natural gas supplies for safety so that leaks can be readily detected. Natural gas is a fossil fuel and non-renewable resource that is formed when layers of organic matter (primarily marine microorganisms) decompose under anaerobic conditions and are subjected to intense heat and pressure underground over millions of years. The energy that the decayed organisms originally obtained from the sun via photosynthesis is stored as chemical energy within the molecules of methane and other hydrocarbons. Natural gas can be burned fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitroglycerin
Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating glycerol with white fuming nitric acid under conditions appropriate to the formation of the nitric acid ester. Chemically, the substance is an organic nitrate compound rather than a nitro compound, but the traditional name is retained. Invented in 1847 by Ascanio Sobrero, nitroglycerin has been used ever since as an active ingredient in the manufacture of explosives, namely dynamite, and as such it is employed in the construction, demolition, and mining industries. Since the 1880s, it has been used by militaries as an active ingredient and gelatinizer for nitrocellulose in some solid propellants such as cordite and ballistite. It is a major component in double-based smokeless propellants used by reloaders. Combined with nitrocellulose, hund ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ouargla Province
Ouargla or Warqla ( ar, ولاية ورقلة) is a province (''wilaya'') in eastern Algeria. Its capital is Ouargla. Other localities include Hassi Ben Abdellah and Hassi Messaoud. It contains the Issaouane Erg desert. History In the past Ouargla was the center of trading of gold and slaves, as well as being an important center of Ibadi Islam. However, the Ibadis have left for the M'zab valley. In 1984 Illizi Province was carved out of its territory. In 2019, Touggourt Province was carved out of its territory. Administrative divisions The province is divided into 6 districts (''daïras''), which are further divided into 10 ''communes'' or municipalities. Districts Geology The region lies within the Algerian Triassic Sedimentary basin containing numerous oil and gas fields, including the Alrar gas field.Hamouda, A., 1980, Petroleum Potential-Ourgla Region Triassic Basin, Algeria, in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade: 1968-1978, AAPG Memoir 30, Halbouty, M.T., editor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Industrial Fires And Explosions
Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominated by one or more industries * Industrial loan company, a financial institution in the United States that lends money, and may be owned by non-financial institutions * Industrial organization, a field that builds on the theory of the firm by examining the structure and boundaries between firms and markets * Industrial Revolution, the development of industry in the 18th and 19th centuries * Industrial society, a society that has undergone industrialization * Industrial technology, a broad field that includes designing, building, optimizing, managing and operating industrial equipment, and predesignated as acceptable for industrial uses, like factories * Industrial video, a video that targets “industry” as its primary audience * Industrial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hellfighters (film)
''Hellfighters'' is a 1968 American adventure film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross and Jim Hutton. The movie depicts about a group of oil well firefighters, based loosely on the life of Red Adair. Adair, "Boots" Hansen, and "Coots" Matthews served as technical advisers on the film. ''Hellfighters'' was for the most part negatively received, with criticism aimed at the overlong plot and dull characterization. Plot Chance Buckman is the head of a Houston–based oil well firefighting outfit. With a team that includes Joe Horn, Greg Parker, and George Harris, Chance travels around the world putting out blazes at well heads from industrial accident, explosion or terrorist attack. Chance enjoys the thrills, but longs for ex-wife Madelyn. She divorced him 20 years earlier, taking their daughter Letitia with her, because Madelyn could not bear to see her husband risk his life. Though they love each other, Madelyn could not deal with her terror tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from the silent era of the 1920s through the American New Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades, and he appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, but grew up in Southern California. After losing his football scholarship to the University of Southern California from a bodysurfing accident, he began working for the Fox Film Corporation. He appeared mostly in small parts, but his first leading role came in Raoul Wal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1968 In Film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events, with the release of Stanley Kubrick's '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', as well as two highly successful musical films, '' Funny Girl'' and '' Oliver!'', the former earning Barbra Streisand the Academy Award for Best Actress (an honour she shared with Katharine Hepburn for her role in ''The Lion in Winter'') and the latter winning both the Best Picture and Best Director awards. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1968 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * November 1 – The MPAA's film rating system is introduced. Awards Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): canceled due to events of May 1968 Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): :'' Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos'' (''Artists under the Big Top: Perplexed''), directed by Alexander Kluge, West Germany Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): :''Ole dole doff'' (''Who Saw Him Die?''), directed by Jan Troell, Sweden Films releas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drilling Fluid
In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also called drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are also used for much simpler boreholes, such as water wells. One of the functions of drilling mud is to carry cuttings out of the hole. The three main categories of drilling fluids are: water-based muds (WBs), which can be dispersed and non-dispersed; non-aqueous muds, usually called oil-based muds (OBs); and gaseous drilling fluid, in which a wide range of gases can be used. Along with their formatives, these are used along with appropriate polymer and clay additives for drilling various oil and gas formations. The main functions of drilling fluids include providing hydrostatic pressure to prevent formation fluids from entering into the well bore, keeping the drill bit cool and clean during drilling, carrying out drill cuttings, and suspending t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boots & Coots
Boots & Coots was a well control company. It was founded in 1978 by Asger "Boots" Hansen and Ed "Coots" Matthews, veterans of the Red Adair Service and Marine Company. The two companies extinguished approximately one third of the more than 700 oil well fires set in Kuwait by retreating Iraqi soldiers in the Gulf War. This work was featured in the 1992 film ''Lessons of Darkness''. In 1997, the company was purchased by International Well Control, the successor of the Red Adair Company. The company worked with Halliburton in Iraq in the aftermath of the Iraq War. There were only nine fires to deal with, far fewer than the number from the previous war. In spite of signing a two-year contract including renewal options with Halliburton in 2004 to continue operating in southern Iraq, the company faced an uncertain future. By the end of 2007, the company had increased revenues to $105.3 million by diversifying from emergency response services to well intervention A well intervention, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gassi Touil
Gassi Touil is a large natural gas field in the Sahara Desert region of Grand Erg Oriental of Algeria, within the commune of Hassi Messaoud. It is an outlying part of the Berkine Basin, itself a region of the Ghadames Basin that extends into Tunisia. The land surface is dominated by extensive sand dune fields. Gassi Touil is the site of a major liquefied natural gas development project, in which natural gas extracted from the Gassi Touil field will be piped to a liquefaction plant at Djedid. The project was initially developed by Spanish firms Repsol and Gas Natural, but their contract was terminated in 2007 by the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, which elected to pursue the project on its own. On November 6, 1961, a gas well fire broke out at Gassi Touil, becoming known as the Devil's Cigarette Lighter. It was finally extinguished on April 28, 1962, by well fire specialist Red Adair Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Adair
Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004)Obituary: Red Adair , August 8, 2004 was an American fighter. He became notable internationally as an innovator in the highly specialized and hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping oil well blowouts, both land-based and offshore. Early life and education Adair was born in |
Friendship 7
Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was the first crewed American orbital spaceflight, which took place on February 20, 1962. Piloted by astronaut John Glenn and operated by NASA as part of Project Mercury, it was the fifth human spaceflight, preceded by Soviet orbital flights Vostok 1 and 2 and American sub-orbital flights Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4. The Mercury spacecraft, named ''Friendship 7'', was carried to orbit by an Atlas LV-3B launch vehicle lifting off from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. After three orbits, the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, splashed down in the North Atlantic Ocean, and was safely taken aboard . Total mission flight time was four hours 55 minutes and 23 seconds. The event was named an IEEE Milestone in 2011. Preparation After the successful completion of the Mercury-Atlas 5 flight that carried Enos, a chimpanzee, in late November 1961, a press conference was held in early December. Reporters asked NASA's Robert Gilruth who would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
