For over 30 years, HDI Lucas has been drilling horizontally in Australia, starting with the first landfall using directional drilling in Victoria for the Bass Strait project in 1987. HDI (Horizontal Drilling International) was established in 1984, and is an internationally recognised HDD and direct pipe contractor, headquartered in France with divisions in Brazil, Mexico and Australia.
The business structure as it is today was formed when Lucas Engineering and Construction (Lucas) was acquired in 2018 by Spiecapag. Lucas was the foundation HDD contractor in the region, having also completed its first HDD crossing in the 1980’s.
The company remains at the vanguard of HDD projects across our region, completing projects in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, New Caledonia, New Zealand and every state and territory of Australia.
HDI Lucas General Manager John Stuart-Robertson says the company has led the way for the HDD industry regionally.
“This is one of the highlights of my nearly 30 years in the industry. We have always valued the long-term relationships we hold with our partners and clients, something which fits right in with the longevity that we all see in the people in this industry,” he says.
HDI Lucas’ projects have extended the limits of what can be achieved with HDD, such as drilling the first HDD over 2km in length when crossing the Tamar River in Tasmania in 2002. That was quickly followed by several record-breaking projects, including Australia’s longest completed HDD crossing at more than 2.4km in New South Wales, and the world’s largest HDD project in offshore Western Australia, with the installation of 9 landfall HDDs up to DN800.
While HDI Lucas’ projects tend to be mainly horizontal, not all are about drilling underneath obstacles: the company has also completed several high-angle horizontal bores for drainage, telecoms installs and other essential utilities.
Client-focused and cooperative contracting
Relationships continue to be a major focus for HDI Lucas: former clients are rarely left in the past. In 2021, as in any given year, HDI Lucas’ portfolio of projects comprises more than 50 per cent return clients. The company’s biggest projects in 2021 stretch across multiple locations in Papua New Guinea, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia. Always looking to operate as the principal contractor, HDI Lucas is part of the supply chain to clients who need deep technical experience to deal with complex conditions, and who invariably know whom to (re)turn to.
One recent project is when a major Australian pipeline infrastructure owner contracted HDI Lucas to confirm the feasibility of, and then execute, the construction of a crossing through 200 mpa+ rock, with compound curves, over a 1,300m+ drill length in an environmentally and socially constrained work site with minimal radius for installation. The company’s ability to execute projects of this technical complexity is driven by the desire to protect natural habitat and limit impact on human and animal populations.
Mr Stuart-Robertson notes that HDD has become a must have in some projects, where project owners and main contractors identify HDD as the solution early in their design phase, and engage the company to provide specialised trenchless engineering and construction.
“On another recent project, our project delivery partner had options to construct the pipeline across a harbour without using HDD, but marine trenching was not the preferred option, as it meant potentially a much longer path around the harbour and a lot more impact on the community and environment,” he says. “By using HDD, the pipeline was able to take a much more direct and optimal path, passing directly underneath the harbour and coastal creek area, avoiding excessive disruption to culturally sensitive or highly populated areas and a key transport waterway.”
Modern, adaptable, and complementary equipment
Drawing on region-leading capacity across our group, HDI Lucas has a fleet of rigs offering pulling capacity ranging from 35 to 400 tonnes. Innovation plays a big role in the plant yard, with equipment from leading European and American manufacturers, customised for optimal performance. This includes operational and safety improvements engineered in-house. The result is a fleet that allows for the trenchless installation of everything from small pipes over short distances, to large pipes of up to DN1400 more than 2km in length.
Experienced and capable people & systems
One thing that doesn’t change is the need for good people: the industry and its individual companies stay in business not just because they have the best equipment, but also because they have the best people.
The industry as a whole is hugely indebted to its pool of HDD professionals, and ensuring that each and every person goes home safe at the end of the day is – simply – a requirement to stay in business. Like in many other parts of the construction industry, this has been a big focus of evolution over the years in the HDD industry.
Mr Stuart-Robertson says attributing this as a big part of the culture that supports reliable project delivery: it is key to meeting HDI Lucas’ promises to clients and staff.
“Our quality and safety systems have been proven time and time again as we tackle some of the most challenging horizontal drilling projects in the region, and those systems are regularly reviewed to ensure we learn and stay ahead of the curve,” he says.
With its people and plant, and thanks to decades of experience in scores of projects around the world, HDI Lucas continues to explore and extend the capabilities of HDD to ensure projects can benefit from safe and reliable pipeline construction in environments that are more complex than most.
HDD projects are about improving outcomes, enabling essential infrastructure to be built in sustainable ways.
“But the real benefits of the project will be felt in the future. Communities will benefit directly from additional infrastructure capacity, and the strain will also be taken off existing plant, optimising its lifespan and minimising the need for works in surrounding areas,” says one client project manager.
Mr Stuart-Robertson’s vision for HDI Lucas is clear. “Buoyed by the strength of our parent company, Spiecapag and HDI, which are part of the Paris stock exchange-listed Vinci Group, we are here for our clients,” he says. “Our job is to find technically innovative, safe and reliable solutions to make essential infrastructure work, sustainably.”