Drilled shore approach sets record on Canadian pipeline

Installation of the Anderson Bay crossing of the Vancouver Island crossing of the Vancouver Island pipeline involved the world's deepest directionally drilled pipeline shore approach, according to the contractor, VSRB Horizontal Drilling Co. The work involved drilling holes for two 410-mm casing pipelines from a clifftop spud-in position to a point on the channel floor 390 m offshore and in water 220 m deep. The drilled profile was some 670 m long and passed through rock strata. The gas carrier pipelines could then be installed later by being pulled from offshore through the drilled holes.