Word: gassiness
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Dates: during 1961-1961
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...four weeks, the bleakness of the French Sahara 450 miles south of Algiers has been illuminated night and day by a billowing, 450-ft. torch of flame. Visible for 90 miles and roaring like a dozen jetliners at takeoff, the fire is consuming the riches of the recently discovered Gassi Touil natural-gas field at the staggering rate of 30 million cu. ft. a day-enough gas to meet the average daily requirements of Tucson, Ariz...
Touched off when static electricity ignited gas escaping from a blown valve at a well called GT2, the Gassi Touil fire would, if it went unchecked, burn for the next century, wasting forever one of the largest underground reservoirs of natural gas (an estimated 7 trillion cu. ft.) yet tapped by man. To avert this economic tragedy, the field's owners-a combine consisting of two French companies, called COPEFA and OMNIREX, and the U.S.'s Phillips Petroleum Co.-have called in daredevil Texan Paul Adair, 46, president of Houston's Red Adair Oil Well Fires & Blowouts...
...Adair's battle plan calls first for bulldozers to push several steel huts up close to the fire. From these, Gassi Touil roustabouts will spray water high into the air to form a cooling curtain for Adair and his men as they move in to attach hooks to the twisted remains of GT-2's rig and blown-out pipe, and winch the debris out of the way. Then a bulldozer will maneuver explosives on the end of a 200-ft. boom right up to the flames. If all goes right, the blast will snuff out the fire...
...prevent sparks from relighting the fire before the gas flow is plugged. While these preliminaries are going on, Adair will continue to pop around the world taking care of other troublesome wells. But he will be back by Christmas, confidently plans to administer the coup de grace to the Gassi Touil fire in early January, and then submit to the oil companies a bill that, including expenses, will run to several million dollars. "After talking to Adair," commented one Paris newsman last week, "my impression is that GT2 doesn't have a chance...
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