Baba Gurgur Oil Field

 production, oilfield

Baba Gurgur (بابا كركر) (Kurdish: بابه ‌گوڕگوڕ, Babe Gurgur) is a large oil field near the city of Kirkuk which was the first to be discovered in Northern Iraq in 1927.

It was considered the largest oil field in the world until the discovery of the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia in 1948. Baba Gurgur is 16 kilometres north-west of Arrapha and is famous for its Eternal Fire (Arabic: النار الازلية‎) at the middle of its oil fields.

Many believe the Eternal Fire to be the same fiery furnace in the Book of Daniel, chapter 3 in the Tanakh (Old Testament) into which King Nebuchadnezzar (c. 630–562 BCE), King of Babylon, threw three Hebrews for refusing to worship his golden idol. It has a significant symbolic value for residents of Kirkuk. The burning flames are the result of an emission of natural gas through cracks in the Baba Gurgur area's rocks. It is believed that the heat of the eternal flames was used by shepherds to warm their flocks during winter. Women visit Baba Gurgur, asking to have a baby boy. This ancient practice probably goes back to the time of fire worshipping.