Dear all, I am attaching a draft of the starting and ending points and bore lengths of the HDD Xings for the main Rivers Neuquen and Limay.

For the three pipelines running in parallel at the Neuquén River crossing, the separation of the HHD center line must be between 30 and 50 meters to mitigate the risk of frac-out —the unintended release of bentonite drilling mud from the borehole to the surrounding ground or surface — during pilot bore and subsequent reaming operations. After a proper geotechnical bore campaign to determine the lithology of the crossing area, it will be possible to reduce these distances, but not during this stage of the design.

For both crossings, it will also be necessary to drill an additional pilot hole for the mud return between the banks and to insert the fiber-optic cables for the communication system.

We do not recommend introducing a FO conduit together with a pipe string, due to the risk of collapsing the borehole or getting the column stuck during the pullback of the pipe string.

LIMAY RIVER XING

HDD 48” API 5LX-80 pipeline wt. 1”, length 900 meters, bore hole 60”/70”, string weight 600 tons (1.350.000 lbs), estimated minimum rig capacity 500.000 lbs 

Starting point at PK 81+950, ending point at PK 82+950

HDD FO, 8” HDPE casing pipeline 

​NEUQUEN RIVER XING

Starting point at PK 81+950, ending point at PK 82+950

HDD 12”, 20”, 24” API 5LX-70 pipelines, with a length of 1100 meters, bore hole sizes of 24”/30”, and 36” respectively.

"C5-C12" 12” (Condensate pipeline) wt.500 (12,7 mm) pipe string weight of 108 tons (240.000 pounds), and an estimated minimum rig capacity of 72.000 pounds.

“C2" 20” wt. 469 (11,91 mm) pipe string weight of 160 tons (355.000 pounds), and an estimated minimum rig capacity of 106.000 pounds. 

HDD FO, 8” HDPE casing pipeline 

VC