In December 2024, Brownline USA provided a very successful solution to a horizontal directional drilling project in Kemah, Texas. For our client Maxx HDD, a 6267 ft / 1910 m crossing was surveyed using the Drillguide Gyro Steering Tool.
This crossing took place parallel to State Highway 146, on a utility right-of-way, and the project was aimed at installing a new 8” butane pipeline.
Many aboveground and underground utilities in this area would have caused significant interference on a magnetic guidance tool, making it impossible to drill accurately here. That is one of the reasons why the pilot bore was surveyed using the Drillguide Gyro Steering Tool, which provides the most accurate measurements without being affected by outside sources.
Annular pressure readings using the Pressure-While-Drilling module inside the GST helped prevent inadvertent returns in the soft ground formation.
Intersected without needing Radar activation
Because of the length of the crossing, this project was executed as an intersect, meeting in the middle after drilling from both sides. Brownline USA supplied Radar tools to be able to measure the relative distance between the bottom hole assemblies at the intersect point.
However, crews were able to join the two boreholes using calculated gyro survey data, and the Radar tools did not need to be activated. An intersect like this highlights the accuracy of our gyro and the quality of our guidance service.
We are proud to have made an important contribution to this long and challenging HDD crossing.
