Ganga River Crossing Project

Success Story: A Triumph of Engineering and Resilience

Challenging the Ganga River
The Ganga River, spanning 4 kilometers at the crossing point in Bihar, posed a significant challenge for our project. We needed to lay a crucial 1350 km pipeline from Odisha to Assam, navigating multiple rivers and highways, with the Ganga crossing being the most formidable.

Record-Breaking Achievement
Our team set a world record by completing the 4000-meter river crossing in just 76 days! This part of the project involved laying both a 26-inch main line and a 6-inch auxiliary line beneath the riverbed. Prioritizing the 26-inch line, despite its complexities, was key to our success.

Innovative Solutions in Tough Conditions
Given the geographic challenges, including a region submerged underwater for most of the year and only four months of operational time, our planning had to be perfect. The road distance between the rig side and the pipe side was a challenging 200 km with poor road conditions, often taking trailers up to 16 hours for a single trip. To address this, we deployed a fleet of 800 drill pipes.

Our engineering team designed special reamers for dual-sided pumping, easing the mud purging process and handling the loads efficiently. Using two 600 GPM pumps in tandem for reaming, achieving a flow rate of nearly 800 GPM, was crucial in speeding up the drilling process and managing the cuttings.

Overcoming Adversity
The project faced unforeseen challenges. A critical moment came when a drill pipe broke during the 32-inch reaming process. Despite this setback, our resilient team, backed by Mr. Vipin, innovated a solution on the spot. We designed a special bull nose and successfully reinserted the drill pipe into the large hole from one side, keeping the project on track.

Equipment:

The successful completion of this crossing was supported by advanced equipment, including:

  • Two American Auger DD-1100 drilling rigs
  • A 500-ton pipe thruster
  • Four F-800 mud pumps
  • Five 700 GPM recycling units
  • Multiple mud and buffer tanks

And Pneumatic Hammer as a contingency equipment.

Dia:

26”

Length:

4027m

Equipment Used:

2X1100 American Augers TESPL pipe thruster

No. of pipes:

422 drill pipes

Geology:

Sand silt with small gravel on one side

Depth: 

49.9m