On that day, the eyes of the whole world turned to Poland. In the small town of Karlino in Pomerania, a pillar of oil fire soared into the sky. The flames raged, while the media hailed the People's Republic of Poland as the new Kuwait. However, the interest in Polish oil faded as quickly as the fire in the Carl's shaft. Why?
December 9, 1980 was a typical working day for the Karlino drilling. Probably at this stage, few employees believed that valuable oil deposits could be found. However, at least according to the calculations of the drilling center in Kamień Pomorski, the project was worthwhile. Around 5 p.m. it turned out that the deposit actually exists, but… someone made a mistake about 200 meters! This mistake almost cost the lives of four people…
Burning Fortune
It has been estimated that the underground "black gold" lake lies at a depth of about 3,000 meters. Meanwhile, when the tip of the drill was about 2,800 meters below the ground, one of the workers on the Daszewo 1 drilling rig noticed that something was wrong.
The scrubber - the agent used to flush the drill cuttings and cool the drill bit - began to come to the surface. Something was pushing it upwards under high pressure! Fortunately, the facility staff realized in time what was about to happen. When a flaming stream erupted into the sky, the people moved away. No one was killed, but four people were burned and hospitalized.
The Volunteer Fire Department in Karlino received the notification at 5:15 pm. It turned out, however, that the element was too powerful for the modest means at the disposal of the local command. The temperature of the flames reached 1000 degrees Celsius, the surrounding buildings caught fire . In the evening, there were already 18 fire brigades at the drilling rig, and information about the scale of the event reached Warsaw.
Prewenter from the Daszewo 1 shaft.
The next day, over 1,000 people took part in the extinguishing, including the army and the Citizens' Militia. TVP broadcast a report on the action in Karlino as the main topic. Lech Wałęsa appeared on the spot, who later told journalists that "you want to cry, that so much oil is escaping forever".
The eruption, apart from the obvious threat, also brought a breath of hope with it. There was even talk of a "new Kuwait", a bright future and oil wealth for communist Poland were foretold . Kazimierz Jakubowicz, head of the "Karlino" Mine Center, recalled years later in Rzeczpospolita:
It was like hysteria. Imagination was also stimulated by the impressive sight of burning oil flowing out of the deposit under high pressure. The fire looked spectacular on TV and that is why it was almost universally believed that this is our Kuwait .
Fire artillery
After all, Poland already had considerable merits in the European oil industry thanks to the work of Ignacy Łukasiewicz. So we should have been allocated an allotment in the form of our own deposit of liquid gold? Well, one thing was clear:the geyser firing 100 meters upwards did look amazing. But was there a promise of fabulous profits behind it?
Journalists from around the world recalculated potential gains (and losses), while reinforcements from Hungary and the USSR came to Poland. The damaged presenter had to be removed, which turned out to be such a difficult task that drastic measures were resorted to:artillery shells . The LWP artillery unit used 152 mm cannon howitzers for this purpose (before that, smaller guns were used, but to no avail; a total of 232 rounds were fired).
PHOTO:EAST NEWS / SIPA PRESS
KARLIN OIL EXPLOSION. SELF-IGNITION HAS OCCURRED DURING THE EXPLORATION TEST, 12/09/1980
The firefighting operation lasted throughout the holidays, and then until the New Year. A team led by engineer Leon Kałyna came to help from across the eastern border, using AGWT extinguishers - modified turbojet engines from MIG-17 fighters mounted on cars. Their thrust was strong enough to suppress the flame in combination with water cannons and foam guns. However, it was not the end of the fight. It was only on January 10 that an 11-ton device brought from Romania was installed on the shaft opening and the fire was finally extinguished.
It is estimated that burned 30,000 tons of crude oil and 50 million cubic meters of natural gas . The total cost of the shares and engineering works was PLN 300 million. Poles, richer in experience, did not break their hands. On January 16, the first tankers, carrying 780 tons of oil, left Karlino.
Unfortunately, it was of average quality, so interest in the subject burst like a soap bubble. Besides - according to the calculations of specialists - the deposit was very small. If the fire had been burning for a few more days, there would be nothing to bring out. Exploitation ended in 1983.
The investigation into the fire also quickly died down, largely due to the lack of casualties. Although the Security Service recruited Secret Collaborators who, on the basis of Jerzy Czyż's report, were to check irregularities during the oil exploration, it later emerged that the entire report was made up, and Jerzy Czyż never existed. So are the chances of Poland becoming an oil power.
Inspiration:
Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes.
This curiosity was inspired by Maciej Siembieda's novel "Gambit", which was published by Agora Publishing House.