Baba Gurgur (Arabic: بابا كركر, Kurdish: بابە گوڕگوڕ ,Babagurgur[1][2]) is an oil field and gas flame near the city of Kirkuk, which was the first to be discovered in Northern Iraq in 1927.

[4][5] Morton cites the local belief that the Eternal Fire was the burning fiery furnace mentioned in Chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel, into which King Nebuchadnezzar cast three Jews.

Morton further mentions that according to Plutarch, this is where Alexander the Great witnessed "fire issues in a continuous stream, like a spring of water, out of a cleft in the earth," and was used to illuminate the streets.

[8][9] Based on the recommendation of E. Wesley Shaw and Arthur Noble, Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) geologists, four wells were drilled in northern Iraq.

On 23 September, TPC chief geologist Louis "Chick" Fowle noted the Baba Gurgur had already reached the "Main" limestone at 1,521 feet (464 m).