Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) completes Ganga River crossing as part of its mega crude oil pipeline project.
NRL is continuing to execute its ‘Numaligarh Refinery Expansion Project (NREP) which includes laying a 1635km cross country pipeline from Paradip Port in Odisha to Numaligarh alongside a significant expansion of the refinery itself.
As part of the project, a team comprising NRL, Engineers India Limited (EIL), and Trenchless Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd has achieved a major milestone with the safe and successful pullback of a 26” diameter pipeline section across the Ganga River in the East Indian state of Bihar.
The project utilised Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) and adopted the Intersection Technique to achieve the crossing length of 4027m. In doing so, it set a new world record as this is the longest distance ever achieved for a 26” diameter pipe. The whole operation was completed in just 76 days, some 15 days ahead of schedule.
The work follows the successful completion of a 3510m HDD project across the Subansiri River, which connects Lakhimpur in the North and Majuli on the South side. To deliver this project, two giant 500mt rigs were positioned on both side of the river and used for the drilling, reaming, and pulling activities. The site’s remote nature made it even more challenging, together with the fact that it remains flooded most of the year leaving a working window of only 4-5 months.
On completion of a final HDD project at the Brahmaputra River all the major HDD crossings for the Paradip Numaligarh Crude Oil Pipeline (PNCPL) will be complete. NRL plans to accomplish construction and commissioning of the PNCPL Project by mid 2025.
