A massive methane leak from a burning hydrocarbon field in western Kazakhstan could be “the worst” of the year, a Kayrros SAS, a French geoanalytics firm said on August 3. An accident at the Karaturun gas fields, owned by Buzachi Neft, caused a fire that has not been extinguished since June 9. The SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research said this accident has provoked emissions at a rate comparable to the top 10% of the methane plumes it detected this year. The ministry of ecology said on August 4 that the company will be held responsible for extinguishing the fire, but did not comment on the methane leak.