Drilling under the San river completed
HDD drilling under the San river, which is part of the Hermanowice-Strachocina gas pipeline project implemented by GAZ-SYSTEM, has been successfully completed. A nearly 1-kilometer long pipeline was installed below the riverbed without damage to the natural environment.Commenced in August 2017 in Mrzygłód (Sanok commune), the drilling was executed using the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) method. The other end of the bore-hole is also located in the Sanok commune, in the town of Tyrawa Solna.
The first stage of the project involved drilling the so-called pilot hole for a pipeline of 200 mm in diameter, which was ultimately used as a casing pipe for a fibre optic line. At the same time, a pilot hole for the prospective gas pipeline with a diameter of 700 mm was drilled. Afterwards, the hole was enlarged in a multi-step process using drilling equipment suitable for the geological conditions on site. Once the required diameter was established, the last stage of the process, i.e. installation of the pipeline in the hole, was commenced.
“This was one of the longest drillings of this kind in Poland, and it was made in rock. Therefore, the HDD drilling under the San river was one of the biggest challenges in the entire construction of the pipeline”, said Krystian Liszka, Branch Director of GAZ-SYSTEM in Tarnów.
The project in Hermanowice-Strachocina will be an essential element of the eastern arm of the North-South Gas Corridor. The 72-kilometer gas pipeline route runs across the following communes of the Podkarpackie voivodeship: Przemyśl, Fredropol, Ustrzyki Dolne, Bircza, Tyrawa Wołoska, Dydnia and Sanok.
The aim of the project is to enhance Poland’s energy security and extend the transmission system in South-Eastern Poland. It is an important endeavour in the context of the prospective new gas pipeline between Poland and Ukraine, which will extend from the Hermanowice gas node on the Polish side to Bliche Volytsia UGS on the Ukrainian side.
Funds worth more than PLN 110 million were secured under the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment to finance the construction.
The project completion is planned for 2019.
