The Copșa Mică gas field is a

natural gas field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...

located in Copșa Mică,

Sibiu County Sibiu County () is a county () of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Its county seat () is the namesake town of Sibiu (). Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szeben megye'', and in German as ''Kreis Hermannstadt''. Under the ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Discovered in 1915, it was developed by

Romgaz Societatea Națională de Gaze Naturale Romgaz SA Mediaș (SNGN Romgaz SA) or simply Romgaz is the largest natural gas producer in Romania and one of the largest producers in Eastern Europe. The company is the country's main supplier and responsib ...

, beginning production of

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

and condensates in 1920. By 2010 the total

proven reserves Proven reserves (also called measured reserves, 1P, and reserves) is a measure of fossil fuel energy reserves, such as oil and gas reserves and coal reserves. It is defined as the "quantity of energy sources estimated with reasonable certaint ...

of the Copșa Mică gas field were around 2.77 trillion ft³ (80 km³), with a production rate of around 3.7 million ft³/day (0.1×10⁵ m³).

Overview

The gas deposits in Romania have a very long history of exploitation, almost unique at the level of Europe and among the few such old fields that are still in production in the world. A quarter of Romania's natural gas reserves () are located in

Western Moldavia Western Moldavia (, ''Moldova de Apus'', or , also known as Moldavia, is the core historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1878, the P ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

, and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, with the remaining 75% located near

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

gas reserve sites in

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

. A fifth of these sites are located in the

Giurgeu-Brașov Depression The Giurgeu-Brașov Depression (in Romanian, ''Depresiunea Giurgeu-Brașovului'') is a series of intermontane basins in Romania. The basin is considered part of the Inner Eastern Carpathians. Within Romania, however, it is traditional to divide ...

and

, with the remainder located in Mureș County at sites such as

Luduș Luduș (; Hungarian: ''Marosludas'' or ''Ludas''; Hungarian pronunciation: , German: ''Ludasch'') is a town in Transylvania, Romania in Mureș County, south-west from the county's capital, Târgu Mureș. Six villages are administered by the to ...

, Șincai,

Bazna Bazna (; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Baußen''; ) is a commune located in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Bazna, Boian (''Bonnesdorf''; ''Bonnesdref''; ''Alsóbajom'') and Velț (''Wölz''; ''Welz''; ''Ve ...

, and

Nadeș Nadeș (, Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a commune in Mureș County, Transylvania, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the ...

History

In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, Romania's program of geological works and drilling was amplified, highlighting the gas deposits from Copșa Mică,

, Șaroș, and Șincai. On July 13, 1933, the biggest fire in the history of Romania occurred at gas well number 5 in Copșa Mică, with the flames reaching a height of . It took almost 7 years for the authorities to find a way to extinguish the fire, while American specialists were also called upon. In the end, the fire was put out by

military forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

, who used 4,681 drilling mud wagons and 3,753 water wagons, the equivalent of a long train set. After the fire was extinguished, there was a work stoppage, due to the opposition of the military authorities to work in the gas zone; this was due to the danger of the fire rekindling and it being easily detectable by enemy aircraft (see ''

Bombing of Romania in World War II The bombing of Romania in World War II comprised two series of events: until August 1944, Allies of World War II, Allied operations, and, following the overthrow of Ion Antonescu's dictatorship, operations by Nazi Germany. The primary target of Al ...

''). Operations to stop the eruption resumed after 1944 and the gas eruption was finally eliminated in 1947. The eruption and the fire at the Copșa Mică gas field lasted 11 years in all; the gas flow estimated to have been lost through this eruption is equivalent to half of what the whole of Romania consumes in a year. The 1933 fire at the gas field led to the creation of a

carbon black Carbon black (with subtypes acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid cataly ...

factory at Copșa Mică. The emissions from the Copșa Mică works permeated the area for nearly sixty years, leaving

soot Soot ( ) is a mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. Soot is considered a hazardous substance with carcinogenic properties. Most broadly, the term includes all the particulate matter produced b ...

on homes, trees, animals, and everything else in the area. For many years, the town was best known for its status as the second most

polluted Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

one in Europe after

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Copsa Mica Gas Field Natural gas fields in Romania Fires in Romania

Overview

History

References

See also

External links