Services / Technologies / HDD

Horizontal Directional Drilling

Long-distance, large-diameter bores beneath rivers, roads, harbours, and coastlines.

Overview

What It Is

TESPL is a horizontal directional drilling contractor in India, delivering river crossings, large-diameter installations and shore approaches at home and internationally. Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a trenchless installation method for pipelines, cables, and conduits along a pre-designed curved path beneath the surface. A drill rig steers a drill string from an entry point to an exit point without open-cut excavation. The method is applicable wherever trenching is impractical, environmentally restricted, or structurally unsafe.

Methodology

How It Works — 3 Steps

Step 1

Pilot Bore

A steerable drill head advances along a pre-designed profile. A downhole steering tool tracks position continuously, allowing real-time directional adjustments throughout the bore.

Step 1 — Pilot Bore — TESPL trenchless engineering equipment and operations
Step 2

Reaming

Progressive hole-openers are pulled back through the pilot bore, enlarging it to the required installation diameter. Drilling fluid circulates throughout to stabilise the bore wall and return cuttings to surface.

Step 2 — Reaming — TESPL trenchless engineering equipment and operations
Step 3

Pipe Pullback

The product pipe string is prepared and pulled back through the completed bore in a single operation.

Step 3 — Pipe Pullback — TESPL trenchless engineering equipment and operations

Applications

River and waterway crossings
Road and railway crossings
Harbour and port crossings
Coastal and offshore cable landfalls
Environmentally restricted corridors
Urban utility installation
Track Record

TESPL in Horizontal Directional Drilling

4,058m × 26"

Longest HDD crossing — Brahmaputra River, World Record

181m

Deepest HDD crossing — Fugale Hill, 24"

30+

HDD bore intersections executed

25+ rigs

50T to 500T — India's largest HDD fleet

  • TESPL has completed 35+ HDD crossings exceeding 2,000 metres, including the world's longest 26" river bore on the Brahmaputra (4,058m) and the former record on the Ganga (4,027m), both for major national gas pipeline programmes.
  • The company has executed 30+ HDD bore intersections — a technically demanding operation requiring two independent bores to meet precisely underground.
  • TESPL has also completed India's deepest HDD crossings, including Fugale Hill at 181m elevation difference through hard rock with a compressive strength of 153 MPa, and the Chambal River crossing at 140m depth.
  • TESPL has a demonstrated track record in HDD under conditions that significantly compound technical difficulty — restricted right-of-way, limited site access, hard and abrasive rock formations, steep uphill profiles, multi-transition geologies, and river crossings with active navigation channels.
  • Projects have been executed across the Western Ghats, the Indo-Gangetic plain, coastal formations, and open seabed — covering the full range of ground conditions encountered in India and internationally.
  • Internationally, HDD projects have been delivered in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Madagascar, including shore approach HDD for offshore wind cable landfalls in Taiwan for Jan De Nul.
View HDD Projects →Brochure Download

Related project references

Brahmaputra River

3558 M / 24" + 6" / GAIL / MECON / Guwahati, Assam

View project details →

Mumbai Nagpur Pipeline

19 Km / 24" + 6" / L&T / GAIL / Maharashtra

View project details →

Master Gas System Expansion Phase -3 , Package 15

3790.06 Mtr / 16'' Steel pipe+12'' Steel pipe+6'' Steel pipe+4'' HDPE Pipe / KPIL/ Saudi Aramco / Rabigh (Jeddah KSA)

View project details →