Both the US and the Soviet Union actually experimented with "nuclear fracking" in oil/gas fields. The Soviet Union also used atomic bombs to put out fires in gas fields as late as 1981.
The idea was you could use nuclear bombs to dig canals. Or make harbors. Or really any large scale earth moving project. The U.S. did one test shot, a shallow buried bomb intended as a cratering charge. https://www.google.com/maps/@37.176944,-116.046111,4654m This ended up contaminating more people than any other test which put the breaks on that. The soviets had an equivalent study but tried a little harder and are now the proud owners of several new irradiated lakes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_(nuclear_test)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_Nat...
>The U.S. did one test shot
"Nine were for the purpose of developing an ultra-low fission thermonuclear explosive for use in nuclear excavation projects and one each was for the development of special emplacement techniques and for a small diameter, ultra-low tritium producing explosive for hydrocarbon applications such as Rio Blanco."
[0] Table 1 on page 7 (PDF page 11) https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/408695
Apparently the shot was quite successful as a natural gas fracking technique, but quite a bit of radon also was released.
And yes, I have the same Google as you, but I'd love a link to your preferred telling of the tale of how the Soviets nuked a gas well fire just a couple years before I was born.
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-soviets-nuked-gas-well-f...
> the explosive was detonated at a depth of 1,500 m (1,640 yd) on 30 September 1966. The hole that the explosive was lowered into had also been sealed with cement so as to prevent atmospheric radioactive contamination.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_Nat...
> The last nuclear explosion by the Program 7, codenamed Rubin-1, was performed in Arkhangelsk Oblast on September 6, 1988.
Although there is no separate page for that.