The Lake Albert oil field was discovered in 2006 in the Lake Albert area of western Uganda, with an area of 1,518 square kilometers and proven geological reserves of more than 6 billion barrels, and this discovery opened the prelude to the exploration and development of hydrocarbons in Uganda and even the entire East Africa region.
On May 21, 2022, PetroChina Baoji Petroleum Machinery Co., Ltd. designed and constructed the first silent 8,000-meter automated drilling rig in China for CNOOC's turnkey project, and it is reported that the drilling rig will be sent abroad for drilling operations. The rig adopts the customized noise reduction solution of HBM.
The drilling rig platform area is mainly composed of drilling platform area, catwalk area, diesel engine set, mud pump area, etc. There are many equipments and noises, the pipeline system and cables are complicated, and it is necessary to be easy to disassemble and transport, which makes the noise management difficult. HBM boldly innovates, using the overall noise reduction, regional noise reduction and equipment noise reduction program, drawing on the advantages of containers for easy transportation, installation and dismantling, all the noise reduction materials are integrated into a number of groups of ultra-long size of the containers, the overall maximum sound insulation is expected to be more than 60 decibels, and the noise value at the edge of the well field can be close to the background noise.
The program uses a large area of high sound insulation materials independently developed and produced by HBM. This product adopts Class A fireproofing and sound insulation materials, and has very outstanding advantages in various strengths of impact, tensile and sound insulation tests. It can greatly reduce the impact of drilling operations on the surrounding ecological environment and create a good and quiet environment for the habitat and reproduction of animals in the Uganda Wildlife Park.
HBM has created a comfortable and safe working environment for oil extractors to help Lake Albert oil field operate efficiently. With the construction and commissioning of Lake Albert oil field, it effectively promotes the development of Uganda's oil industry, promotes the transformation and upgrading of the local energy structure of Uganda, and will bring new development opportunities for Uganda, which takes traditional agriculture and animal husbandry as the main source of economy, and make it become an important crude oil producer in the East African region.