Located between Morocco and Tunisia, Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the 10th largest in the world. 4/5 of the country is covered by the Sahara – the hottest desert in the world. This is a desolate, barren land full of rocks… Hardly anyone lives here. Despite the harsh terrain, there are settlements on the northern edge of the Sahara. This place is also known as historic 5 ksours. These are the centuries-old ancient cities of the M’Zab valley. These cities include El-Atteuf (the oldest, founded in 1012), Melika, Bounoura, the holy places of Beni-Isguen and Ghardaïa. A tourist board was established to preserve these 5 ksours. They set quite strict regulations for tourists and Algerians. According to the BBC, the council advises Algerians and tourists to visit the ancient cities only when accompanied by a local guide. In addition, some other behaviors are also prohibited when coming here such as smoking, immodest dress, using mobile phones and taking selfies. Khaled Meghnine, a local guide, said: “We are all friendly and visitors are welcome to come here. However, they must respect the way of life of the people of this area. It is our home. , not the backdrop for a social media post. Nobody here wants that.” Since the 8th century, the Mozabites, a semi-nomadic people with a distinct language Tumzabt, have explored the land. 5 ancient cities are the unique cultural crossroads of the indigenous people of North Africa, the Islamic faith of Ibadi… Currently, the population of these cities is about 360,000 people. “It’s unbelievable how they developed society in this harsh land. That’s why we need to cherish this culture. It’s been around for 1,000 years,” Meghnine said. The roads in these cities are quite narrow, just enough for a donkey to carry cargo. The main road is bigger, enough for the camel to move. The houses are made of stone with a boxy texture. They usually raise a goat for milk and to deal with leftovers. Electricity started appearing here in 1950 and also changed people’s lives more or less. However, many principles remain the same from the old days. For example, when queuing at water pumps, children will be first, then women, then men. The walls of the house are often painted blue to create a feeling of coolness and repel mosquitoes. In Ghardaïa (pictured), the installation of modern signs or billboards is prohibited. This is how they keep the old city intact. Local regulations require that people in small streets specialize in only one product, for example carpets, fruit, vegetables or gold. The merchants here are not very competitive. Instead, they unite and create strong communities. Bargaining is also “implicitly forbidden” because of the respect between the seller and the buyer. Both parties will agree on a reasonable price from the beginning based on honesty. Another issue of concern for people living in these cities is water. To them, water is more precious than gold. There is a committee dedicated to overseeing the use of water resources. Here, they have penalties for people using more water than is common in society. In fact, from 2008-2017, the M’Zab valley did not have a single drop of rain. That’s why they take the regulations seriously.

Vietnamese officials and engineers at the Sahara field. According to PVN, on August 13, 2015, PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP – a unit of PVN) announced that it had exploited the first oil flow in the Sahara desert. This was a historic event of the oil and gas industry at that time, because this was the first successful project of PVEP as well as of PVN abroad from the first stage of participation in international bidding to the exploration stage. The first oil flow from the desert has been brought up through the BRS-6bis production well (one of four wells of the field) with a flow rate of nearly 2,000 barrels per day. After that, the capacity was gradually increased to 20,000 barrels of oil per day as planned. This project has a total investment of about 2 billion USD, lasts 29 years, with the capital contribution of Sonatrach Company (Algeria) 25%, PTTEP (Thailand) 35% and PVN (Vietnam) 40%, in which PVN through PVEP holds the management power. PVN workers at this project recounted that the Sahara desert where the project was located was hot and burning. The mining site of the mine is located in the Touggourt region, deep in the Sahara Desert. This area has a tropical desert climate, rainfall is less than 50mm/year. During the day, the temperature is extremely hot, the highest recorded is 50.6 degrees Celsius. Mr. Le Dac Hoa – Director of the Project Management Board of Block 01-02 of PVEP – who used to work at an oil field in the Sahara desert, said he was one of the few Vietnamese engineers sent to Vietnam. China carried out a project to build a new land rig PV DRILLING 11, before moving the rig to Algeria to carry out drilling campaign for PVEP’s Bir Seba Project. At this time, PV Drilling has to hire many foreign experts in charge of important positions on the rig. But by the second drilling campaign, all the most important positions on the rig were occupied by the Vietnamese. It sounds simple, but it’s a long story about the determination of PV Drilling’s board of directors who have trusted and entrusted the Vietnamese engineering force. All engineers given the opportunity are eager to learn, trying to learn to prove their true ability, can fully take on the most important positions on the rig. The three years of “swirling” in the Sahara fire was really an unforgettable time for Mr. Le Dac Hoa. He recounted that the first days he and his colleagues stepped foot in Algeria was also when the heat reached its peak. The work at that time was chaotic, all engineering, mechanical, electrical, water, and logistics work at the drilling site in the middle of the desert had to be prepared to welcome the PV DRILLING 11 rig, while the team of engineers. The main Vietnamese people are only about 8-10 people, the remaining more than 50 workers are all native. Language and cultural differences make communication extremely difficult, so in the beginning, Vietnamese engineers had to handle almost everything on the construction site themselves. According to Mr. Hoa, sometimes the temperature reaches more than 50 degrees Celsius, but there is no sweat on the body, because wherever the sweat goes, it is immediately dried by the hot winds and evaporated. . The typical hot winds of the desert always bring dust and sand towers, sometimes shoving directly into the faces of working workers. “The weather conditions are extremely horrible even for the indigenous people,” Mr. Hoa said and said that during the day it is, but at night, the temperature suddenly drops to approximately 10 degrees Celsius. The temperature difference is so big and so sudden that people who are only used to the tropical monsoon climate, which is cool all year round feel uncomfortable, even sick… According to Mr. Le Dac Hoa, the drilling project in Algeria is very difficult and complicated with different geological structure. “It is normal for the oil and gas profession to face difficulties, it is the oil and gas industry who must consider difficulties as their life, to force themselves to continue to strive, to continue to rise after each experience”, the engineer said. confidant.