The winter of 2015 witnessed the completion of a mechanical prop installation within the Ahmed Al Jaber Oil and Gas Exhibition Centre in Kuwait known as Oil Drop.
The brief was to design a simple visual depiction of how much oil is produced and pumped by the Kuwait Oil Company every second of every day. This brief was expertly translated, by our good friends at Event Communications, into a design that BSTE were then asked to turn into reality.
The exhibit consisted of an giant, clear, acrylic tube 1200mm in diameter and with 50mm walls that exceeded the height of the room it was placed so it appeared as if the tube entered the room from above the ceiling and then left through the floor of the room giving the impression of the tube being an observation window within the main oil pipeline leaving Kuwait.
Above the tube (and the ceiling) was a 8000 litre water tank and between the two, a massive 1000mm diameter butterfly valve on a fast acting pneumatic piston. On cue the valve would open and up to 8000 litres of water would drop into the tube in a couple of seconds. The water was dyed to look like crude oil and the impact of 8 tons of water dropping just inches from the faces of the guests certainly got the point across and demonstrated perfectly how much oil the Kuwait Oil Company produced and pumped down pipes this size every second of the day.
The system also had to cycle every few minutes so a second header tank was employed with dual pumps so a second show could be running whilst the first reset. BST also supplied water chilling and sterilising equipment to ensure continued, faultless, operation within the Kuwait climate.