With the soil composition data identified, Forconi’s team then specified an annular pressure plan, completed a hydro fracture analysis and determined product pipeline specifications. From the geotechnical data, Forconi and his team determined the appropriate drilling depth of between 100 feet and 120 feet (30.4 m and 36.6 m). The first step involved completing a geotechnical analysis and collecting data, including a soil composition analysis, to identify which layers would be best for drilling. Plotting the bore courseĪs with every job, Forconi began by assembling his exceptional team of HDD bore planning and engineering experts to draw up design/build specifications according to the directions provided by NuStar Energy. Completing this final link beneath Nueces Bay would allow NuStar Energy to increase capacity of WTI crude from the Permian Basin, hence enhancing the growth of Gulf Coast crude exports from the Port of Corpus Christi to global markets. The Nueces Bay connection would complete the second stage of the NuStar Energy export project, an 8-mile (12.9-km), 30-inch (72.6-cm) pipeline from the existing Cactus II pipeline located in Taft, Texas, to the NuStar Energy Corpus Christi terminal. NuStar Energy, based in San Antonio, Texas, tapped Hard Rock Directional Drilling to tackle the project as an extension of one of three of the company’s South Texas Pipeline Systems designed to move increased volumes of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude from the Mid-Continent Oil Field Province, located in the West Texas Permian Basin, to the NuStar Energy Corpus Christi terminal. But this job, positioned beneath the ecologically sensitive Nueces Bay and within proximity to the famed Corpus Christi, Texas, shoreline, presented additional challenges. Even if the assignment were to take place all on land, he knew the sheer length - 15,000 feet (4,572 m) - would require two bores intersecting at a point near the middle. Hard Rock Directional Drilling completes 30-inch pipeline bore spanning nearly 15,000 feet underwaterĪt the moment when project supervisors with NuStar Energy LP finished sharing details of the Nueces Bay underground pipeline project with Tom Forconi, division manager at Hard Rock Directional Drilling, Forconi was already envisioning how his team of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) experts would approach the job.
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