The early years of the crater's history are still being determined. Relevant records are either absent from the archives, classified, or inaccessible. Others assert that the site was drilled by
Soviet engineers in 1971 as an oil field but collapsed within days, forming the crater, with the engineers choosing to
flare the crater to prevent the emission of poisonous gases but underestimating the volume of the gas.
Controlling the burn In April 2010, President
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow recommended that measures be taken to limit the crater's influence on the development of other natural gas fields in the area. In January 2022, Berdimuhamedow announced plans to extinguish the crater, citing deleterious effects on local health, the environment, and the natural gas industry. A commission was established to find the optimal technique. Despite Berdimuhamedow's intentions, the crater remains open and burning. In 2025, authorities declared that the size of the fire had been reduced three-fold over an unspecified timeframe, while several wells were drilled around the crater to capture methane. By August, the crater, which was said to have been the country's top tourist attraction, had only a few pockets of small fires. == Tourism and culture ==