Gassi Touil

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Gassi Touil is a large natural gas field in the Sahara Desert region of Grand Erg Oriental of Algeria, within the commune of Hassi Messaoud.{{cite web |title=Décret n° 84-365, fixant la composition, la consistance et les limites territoriale des communes. Wilaya d'El Oued |url=http://www.joradp.dz/JO8499/1984/067/FP1551.pdf |publisher=Journal officiel de la République Algérienne |accessdate=27 April 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302112245/http://www.joradp.dz/JO8499/1984/067/FP1551.pdf |archivedate=2 March 2013 |page=1551 |language=French |date=19 December 1984}} It is an outlying part of the Berkine Basin, itself a region of the Ghadames Basin that extends into Tunisia. The land surface is dominated by extensive sand dune fields.{{cite book|last=Cochran|first=Michael D.|title=Petroleum Provinces of the Twenty-First Century|year=2001|page=532|author2=Petersen, Lee E.|editor=Downey, Marlan|chapter=Chapter 26}}

Gassi Touil is the site of a major liquefied natural gas development project, in which natural gas extracted from the Gassi Touil field will be piped to a liquefaction plant at Djedid.{{cite web|title=Repsol Launches Gassi Touil LNG Project in Algeria|url=http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/30275/Repsol_Launches_Gassi_Touil_LNG_Project_in_Algeria|publisher=Rigzone|accessdate=27 April 2013|date=March 14, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422052532/http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/30275/Repsol_Launches_Gassi_Touil_LNG_Project_in_Algeria|archive-date=22 April 2016|url-status=dead}} The project was initially developed by Spanish firms Repsol and Gas Natural, but their contract was terminated in 2007 by the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, which elected to pursue the project on its own.{{cite web|title=Gassi Touil Gas Production Delayed for 3 Years|url=https://www.gulfoilandgas.com/webpro1/MAIN/Mainnews.asp?id=9861|publisher=Gulf Oil & Gas|accessdate=27 April 2013|date=November 30, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113132421/http://gulfoilandgas.com/webpro1/MAIN/Mainnews.asp?id=9861|archive-date=13 November 2012|url-status=dead}}

On November 6, 1961, a gas well fire broke out at Gassi Touil, becoming known as the Devil's Cigarette Lighter. It was finally extinguished on April 28, 1962, by well fire specialist Red Adair.{{cite news|last=Flynn|first=Sean|title=The Big Heat|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/magazine/26ADAIR.html?_r=0|accessdate=26 April 2013|newspaper=New York Times Magazine|date=November 26, 2004}}

The field also produces oil, first discovered in 1961, from 38 wells as of 2008.{{cite journal |journal=Oil & Gas Journal Databook |title=Worldwide Production Report |year=2008 |issn=8756-7164}}