Crossing the Strait of Hormuz in Southern Iran, HDD Master successfully supported a monumental subsea pipeline installation connecting the Port of Abbas to Qeshm Island. Overcoming ultra-soft seabed quicksand and extreme signal attenuation, the project deployed a dual-rig intersection drilling strategy. Backed by HDD Master’s heavy-duty machinery, downhole tooling, and cutting-edge magnetic guidance technology, the two drill strings met seamlessly under the seabed with millimeter-level precision.
Country / Project Type：
Location: Strait of Hormuz (Port of Abbas to Qeshm Island), Southern Iran
Application: Subsea Natural Gas Pipeline & 6-inch Fiber-Optic Cable Conduit Crossing
Pipeline Specs: Length: 3,000 meters | Diameter: 762 mm (30 inches)
Ground Conditions and Technical Challenges：
Ultra-Soft Subsea Geology: Seabed consisting entirely of soft silt and clay (“quicksand” behavior), posing extreme risks of borehole collapse and directional deviation.
Long-Distance Blind Intersection: A 3,000-meter subsea drive requiring two directional drills to meet in pitch-black, fluid underground formations without visual line-of-sight.
Rapid Signal Attenuation: High signal damping through dense marine mud layers making traditional surface wireline tracking ineffective.
Equipment & Technology Configuration：
Dual-Rig Setup: 500-Ton Heavy-Duty HDD Machine (Qeshm Island) & 280-Ton Directional Rig (Port of Abbas)
Guidance & Steering System: Advanced Magnetic Short-Section HDD Guidance System with real-time subsea telemetry for pinpoint alignment.
Downhole Reaming Tools: Multi-stage (Grade 5) Heavy-Duty HDD Reamer expanding the hole to 1,000 mm (1 meter) in diameter.
Drill String Assembly: High-Tensile Forged HDD Drill Rods engineered for high pullback torque and fatigue resistance.
Verified Project Results：
Millimeter-Precision Alignment: Successfully achieved underground “handshake” intersection across 3,000 meters with an error margin within millimeters.
Single-Attempt Pullback Success: Completed the 3,000m pipeline pullback in a single continuous operation by June 2025 with zero downhole collapses.
Risk-Free Execution: Eliminated hole-collapse risks in soft marine strata, proving a scalable, reusable technical benchmark for mega-distance sea/river crossings globally.