Capabilities & Projects
Thanks to decades of experience in thousands of projects around the world, HDI Lucas, a subsidiary of Spiecapag Australia and sister company of HDI France, is a key player in the field of horizontal directional drilling.
Our reputation is built on our continuously evolving engineering and our ability to adapt to any kind of project. The skills of our teams and the reliability of our equipment allow us to redefine the limits for pipeline installation beneath natural or artificial obstacles whilst respecting the environment.
HDI Lucas’ drilling rigs offer a pulling capacity ranging between 35 and 400 tons. They allow for the installation of small size pipelines over short distances as well as large diameter pipelines (up to DN 1400) over very long distances.
Rigs are trailer or crawler mounted and consist of a central beam rack with a carriage moved by pinions powered by hydraulic motors. Hydraulic rotary motors located on the carriage provide the necessary rotary force.
Each drilling rig has its own control cabin, steering kit, high pressure pump and other ancillary equipment forming a complete and autonomous drilling spread. The HD 650 and HD 350 models are designed and manufactured in-house.
View or download our full Capability Statement.
JANSZ-IO COMPRESSION PROJECT
Client: Chevron
Location: Barrow Is (WA), Australia
Completion: Est. 2025
Pipe Diameter: 24” (DN630)
The Jansz-Io Compression Project is a life extension activity, providing compression to the Jansz-Io field to maintain plateau gas supply to the Gorgon LNG plant and maximise recovery from the reservoir. The Jansz-Io field is located approximately 130km northwest of Barrow Island (BWI) in Western Australia in water depths of approximately 1350m and supplies gas to the Gorgon LNG plant on BWI.
The scope included:
- 3x HDD 550m DN630 HDPE casings installations.
- 1x HDD 500m DN355 refurbishment of an existing liner.
- Onshore trenching and supporting cable pulling /cable lay for 300m and 400m.
- Support for live cutover works.
- Large pre-cast concrete installation.
- Excavation over existing services
Interfaces included management of a bulk earthworks civil subcontractor, offshore marine HDD support, and offshore marine cable installation teams.
Barrow Island is an “A Class” nature reserve and operates under strict quarantine measures in order to protect the island’s natural fauna and flora from the introduction of non-native species and to preserve the island’s unique biodiversity. All work on BWI is subject to strict quarantine requirements.
KURRI KURRI LATERAL PIPELINE PROJECT
Client: APA
Location: Kurri Kurri (NSW), Australia
Completion: Est. 2024
Pipe Diameter: 14” (DN350)
The Kurri Kurri Lateral Pipeline (KKLP) is a buried gas transmission pipeline and storage pipeline that will connect the proposed Hunter Power Project at Kurri Kurri, in New South Wales, to the existing Sydney to Newcastle pipeline, near Newcastle.
The scope included 7no. HDD crossings up to 1,100m with a total length of 5.5km in sandstone formation up to 80mpa in strength.
WESTERN OUTER RING MAIN (WORM) PROJECT
Client: APA
Location: Melbourne (VIC), Australia
Completion: 2023
Pipe Diameter: 20” (DN500)
The Western Outer Ring Main project is a high-pressure, buried gas transmission pipeline, approximately 51km long, which will provide a new connection between existing pipelines at Plumpton in Melbourne’s west and Wollert in the north. The project also includes an upgrade to the existing compressor station at Wollert.
The project included 3km of trenchless crossing across 7no. HDD (6 of them major waterway crossings) and 12 bores.
CHANNEL ISLAND BRIDGE PIPELINE REPLACEMENT PROJECT
Client: APA
Location: Darwin (NT), Australia
Completion: 2021
Pipe Diameter: 12” (DN300)
Territory Generation operates the Channel Island Power Station, which is the largest power station in the Northern Territory and the main source of electricity for the Darwin-Katherine interconnected system.
The section of Amadeus Gas Pipeline that crosses the Channel Island Bridge near the power station reduced in nominal diameter from DN300 to DN200. This existing DN200 pipeline under the bridge needed to be replaced by installing a replacement DN300 pipeline under the waterway.
A new 1350m long HDD crossing was completed through varying geology up to 250mpa rock strength. The profile was very complex with a compound curve arrangement completed to minimum pipe bending radius during the last 400m of the crossing.
LIHIR ISLAND TAILINGS PIPELINE REHABILITATION PROJECTS (TK050/TK2050)
Client: Newcrest
Location: Lihir Is, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
Completion: 2021/2023
Pipe Diameter: 48” (DN1200)
The first Lihir Island Tailings Pipeline Rehabilitation Project TK050 involved the recovery and reinstallation of a DN1200 HDPE liner pipe used for the placement of tailings to water depth of more than 100m. The project was located on Lihir Island at a gold mine with dense infrastructure, 643km off the coast of mainland Papua New Guinea. At over 200m in length the tailings pipe was connected to a submerged tank that gravity fed to the ocean at an angle of 37 degrees.
The second, TK2050, involved the relining of another existing DN1200 pipe (approximatively 300m. in length) laid at 33 degrees.
NORTHERN INTERCEPTOR PIPELINE PROJECT
Client: Fletcher (Watercare)
Country: Rosedale, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Completion: 2020
Pipe Diameter: up to 20” (DN500)
The Northern Interceptor Pipeline Project is new wastewater pipe designed to redirect flows from the North-western areas of Auckland (New Zealand) to the Rosedale Wastewater Treatment Plant in Albany.
The final pipeline design incorporates dual DN500 HDPE PN16 sewage rising mains and a DN200 HDPE conduit for future fibre optic cable installations under the Upper Waitematā Harbour and Te Wharau Creek.
The total drilling length was more than 5,000m with each of the triple harbour crossings each exceeding more than 1,100m in length and through parallel curves. The triple Te Wharau Creek crossings each exceed 560m in length.
The crossings were completed in challenging rock and clay conditions, requiring detailed planning and preparation to ensure the crossings were constructible and risk was as low as possible. The bottom hole assemblies were manufactured utilising variable jet configurations to overcome the East Coast Bays Waitematā rock and sticky clay. The project also needed to complete detailed planning and negotiation to secure suitable stringing areas, as the urban location of the pipeline meant that options large enough to be safe and suitable were severely limited.
TUAS SHORE CROSSING – UNDERSEA CABLING
Client: JTC Corporation
Country: Singapore
Completion: 2019
Pipe Diameter: 10″ (DN250)
A significant reclamation project being completed by JTC Corporation at the Tuas Western Coast in Singapore. It was necessary for SingTel’s undersea cable systems, to be diverted to allow the dredging works to proceed.
Two 700m shore approaches (250mm OD Casing) were installed 45m deep beyond the proposed dredging zone.
Project works included all required support activities; construction and maintenance of launch pit and work area; provision and transportation of consumables, material and equipment.
TANGGUH LNG EXPANSION PROJECT (LANDFALL)
Working in remote locations to improve production
Client: BP/SAIPEM
Location: West Papua, Indonesia
Completion: 2018
Pipe Diameter: up to 24” (DN600)
The Tangguh Expansion Project was an expansion of the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility located on the southern shore of Bintuni Bay in Teluk Bintuni Regency of Papua Barat Province (West Papua).
The expansion increased the production capacity of the LNG plant by approximately 50% to 11.4 Mtpa. The full project included the construction of two offshore platforms, 13 new production wells, an expanded loading facility and associated infrastructure. The Tangguh LNG Expansion HDD project required:
- Three HDD landfalls 2065m in length.
- Two 16-inch diameter boreholes for installation of 10-inch casings.
- One 40-inch diameter borehole for installation of 24-inch product pipe.
Project works included all required support activities; construction and maintenance of launch pit and work area; provision and transportation of consumables, material and equipment.
TAURANGA SOUTHERN PIPELINE (HARBOUR CROSSING)
Future-proofing the city and improving the environment
Client: Tauranga City Council
Location: Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand
Completion: 2018
Pipe Diameter: up to 40″ (DN1000)
The scope of the Tauranga Southern Pipeline included design and construction of a major wastewater pipeline between Memorial Park Pump Station, across the Tauranga Harbour to MaTauranga Southern (Wastewater) Pipeline on the North Island of New Zealand.
The purpose of the pipeline was to relieve the burden on the city’s sewage treatment plant, allowing it to improve its performance. The harbour pipeline was HDD drilled at a depth of 40m under the seabed.
- A drill length of approximately 1570m from Memorial Park to Matapihi.
- A 1500mm outer casing was driven in on both sides of the Harbour.
- A 1000mm steel casing was installed by HDD, to accommodate an inner 800mm PE pipe.
Project works included all required support activities; construction and maintenance of launch pit and work area; provision and transportation of consumables, material and equipment.
Gorgon LNG PROJECT (LANDFALL)
Part of Australia’s largest resource project
Client: Chevron
Location: Barrow Island (WA), Australia
Completion: 2012
Pipe Diameter: up to 34” (DN860)
Gorgon is one of the world’s largest LNG projects and the largest single resource project in Australian history. Located on Barrow Island, a Class A Nature Reserve, Gorgon comprises a three-train, 15.6 million tonnes per annum LNG facility and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to supply 300 terajoules of gas per day to Western Australia.
The Gorgon project required:
- Nine HDD landfalls, all 490m in length.
- Three 26-inch diameter boreholes for installation of 18-inch casings.
- Four 16-inch diameter boreholes for installation of 8-inch and 10-inch product lines.
- Two 48-inch diameter boreholes for installation of 34-inch product lines.
Project works includes all required support activities, construction and maintenance of launch pit and work area, provision and transportation of consumables, material and equipment.
POHOKURA GAS FIELD PROJECT (LANDFALL)
The world’s longest landfall at the time
Client: Shell Todd New Zealand
Location: New Plymouth, North Island, New Zealand
Completion: 2007
Pipe Diameter: up to 24” (DN600)
The project’s HDD landfall traverses a 33-metre cliff and an offshore reef. At 1,850m overall, at the time this was the world’s longest landfall.
One of the key challenges was traversing the many different geological layers along the HDD alignment. In order to drill through the surface layers of pyroclastic boulders and cobbles, a casing was hammered approximately 146 m using a 2,000-ton pneumatic hammer. We used an American Augers DD1100 rig. It has 500 tonnes of push/pull capacity and 136 kNm of torque. It is the largest rig in the Asia Pacific, and among the five largest in the world. We used a centrifuge to control the superfine cuttings from the siltstone and mud.
Project works included all required support activities, construction and maintenance of launch pit and work area, provision and transportation of consumables, material and equipment.
China Light & Power (Ma Wan Island, Hong Kong)
Largest cable installation by HDD at the time (in 2001).
6 crossings up to 1400m long to accommodate DN450 casings for cable bundles.
Hangzhou Bay Pipeline Crossing (Shanghai, China)
2x 1750m landfalls up to DN600.
Subsidiaries and branches
Recent or undergoing projects