# Can an oil field blow up?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-oil-field-blow-up/518838>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 24, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-oil-field-blow-up/518838 "2009-11-24T22:59:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-oil-field-blow-up/518838/1 "2009-11-24T22:59:09Z")

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I was just watching some footage from the 1st Gulf War. They showed some footage of the oil wells that had been lit up. It took about 6 months to put them all out… which got me thinking…

Could an oil field blow up? Would a simple spark do it or would you need some other process?

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-oil-field-blow-up/518838/2 "2009-11-24T23:08:22Z")

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Nat Gas, rather than oil, but:  
[Darvaza](http://www.yousaytoo.com/patricia/the-burning-gates/6431)

> **[Darvaza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derweze)**
>
> Darvaza (from Persian: دروازه, "gate"\[citation needed\] Turkmen: Derweze) is a rural council (village council) in Ak bugdaý District, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan of about 2 thousand inhabitants, located in the middle of the Karakum Desert, about 260 km north of Ashgabat. The rural council consists of three separate villages: Derweze (formerly Aeroport) (the administrative center), Ataguýy, and Böri.
> Darvaza's inhabitants are mostly Turkmen of the Teke tribe, preserving a semi-nomadic lifestyle. I...

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-oil-field-blow-up/518838/3 "2009-11-24T23:14:40Z")

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When oil burns or explodes, it is combining with oxygen. When oil is in the ground, there’s usually not enough air in there with it for it to burn or explode.

I’m not aware of it ever happening, but if you had a decent sized cavern underground that had been filled with oil and it was mostly empty, then the air that replaced the missing oil would contain enough oxygen to support combustion.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-oil-field-blow-up/518838/4 "2009-11-25T13:41:48Z")

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The mixture which supports combustion is pretty lean, just a few percent fuel & 90+% air. So any underground reservoir needs to be very close to empty to be combustible.

Also, the common image of oil exporation is of large caverns full of liquid. Not so.

The reality is a lot closer to a kitchen sponge saturated with liquid. The well-end pulls fluid from one particular spot inside the sponge & ambient pressure causes the liquid to flow from elsewhere into that local spot. So over time you can extract all the liquid just by pulling from one spot. But that doesn’t cause or require a large void anywhere.