Record breaking drilling job in Texel, The Netherlands

In 2017, Brownline successfully performed steering services for the longest ever horizontal directional drill!

An embedded water pipeline connecting Texel, an offshore island, with the mainland was damaged through the lowering of an anchor. The island council had commissioned a project to install an underground pipeline to avoid a reoccurrence of damage to the pipeline. The realized pipeline spanned 15091 ft and was installed at a depth of 278 ft.

Complicating factors

  • > 95% under water
  • The length of the drill was exceptionally long
  • Marine traffic above the drill path

A length of 15091 Foot

The length of the anticipated drill was too long to drill with a single rig. Two rigs were therefore used in a Radar Intersect setup to realize the drill, each needing to drill roughly 7550 ft. Our Gyro steering tool in combination with the Radar Intersect module was able to realize two solid drill paths and connect in the middle.

The Intersect was completed within a short space of time. Since the pilot drills were realized, new water pipelines have been installed in the borehole. No other steering system is currently able to render the same result for the drills with these complexities.

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