"Belt and Road" Energy Artery

First Use of Directional Drilling Technology

Crossing an Ecologically Fragile Area

XCMG Participates in the "West-East Gas Pipeline" — Another Honor Added

Recently, construction of the West-East Gas Pipeline Line 4 natural gas pipeline project has been steadily advancing. XCMG's large-tonnage horizontal directional drilling rig XZ6600 crossed the wetland park protection area, with a project pipe diameter of D1219mm and a directional drilling crossing length of 906.5 meters.

This directional drilling crossing is the only directional drilling crossing project among the eight sections of the West-East Gas Pipeline Line 4. Because the wetland park protection area is an ecologically fragile area, the use of directional drilling technology can reduce disturbance to the surrounding Gobi vegetation. However, since the project is located in the eastern part of the northwest, which has a temperate continental climate with large temperature differences and geology mostly consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, and mudstone, directional drilling construction is quite difficult.

To ensure the orderly progress of the directional drilling crossing and the smooth completion of pullback, XCMG technical personnel, together with the project department, conducted on-site surveys in advance, trained operators, and carried out pipeline pullback drills. During construction, when reaming and pullback reached the mudstone layer, the soil was sticky and gripped the drill. The "torque-adaptive automatic cruise construction technology," "multi-condition speed regulation and rotation," and "push-pull multi-gear control technology" equipped on the XCMG XZ6600 horizontal directional drilling rig provided greater torque for pullback, ensuring the smooth progress of the project.

In addition, the XCMG XZ6600 horizontal directional drilling rig has a maximum pullback force of 6600kN and a maximum rotary torque of 210000N·m. During long-distance pullback, it can transmit data synchronously, providing data support for the project owner to verify the quality of drilling and reaming. Ultimately, the XCMG horizontal directional drilling rig successfully completed all ten stages of reaming construction tasks, creating favorable conditions for the overall pipeline crossing pullback.

The XCMG XZ6600 has a distinguished record in directional drilling crossing projects. In July this year, at the China Resources Gas project in Xiangshan, Zhejiang, the XCMG XZ11000 and XZ6600 horizontal directional drilling rigs performed a two-machine opposing crossing with a mountain-crossing length of 3960 meters, setting a world record for the longest mountain crossing project.

The West-East Gas Pipeline Line 4 is another major strategic energy corridor connecting Central Asia and China and a major measure to promote the joint construction of a green energy Silk Road in the new era. It is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2024 and then operate jointly with the West-East Gas Pipeline Lines 2 and 3. By then, the annual transmission capacity of the West-East Gas Pipeline system will reach 100 billion cubic meters, further promoting the optimization of the energy structure in the eastern and western regions, effectively enhancing China's natural gas energy supply guarantee capacity, and helping economic and social development and green low-carbon transformation along the pipeline route.