Prime Horizontal Milestones
Since its inception, Prime Horizontal has been the driver, co-developer with Vector Magnetics and the prime user of the ParaTrack system for the steering of HDD pilot holes. Prime Horizontal continues to be a prime driver for new developments of ParaTrack and for new uses for ParaTrack in the HDD market. As a result, Prime Horizontal is considered an authority on the use of the ParaTrack system in all horizontal directional drilling applications, and has set several world records for HDD projects.
Following are several milestones in the history of Prime Horizontal since 1998:
| 1998 | Prime Horizontal (Prime) and Vector Magnetics (Vector) enter a co-development agreement to commercialize new steering methodology for the HDD market originally developed by Vector for the downhole oilfield market. |
| April 2000 | Prime successfully completes world’s first successful ParaTrack Magnetic HDD intersection project while drilling under the Tees River in England. |
| 2000 | Prime adds product line of DDI Rock Reamer Hole Openers and maintained inventory in UK from 4” through 62”. |
| August 2000 | Prime successfully completes first 3 commercial ParaTrack-1 projects of three 1,100 meter crossings using a guidewire installed inside a 36” steel product pipe within a 3 meter corridor. |
| September 2000 | Prime introduces ParaTrack-2 system by guiding a crossing in Falmouth Harbor. |
| November 2000 | Prime successfully completes a ParaTrack-2 project in Holland where a number of re-drills by competition were caused by heavy magnetic Interference. |
| Mid 2001 | Prime successfully guided and completed the world’s second HDD & the first planned underground intersect in the Netherlands, under the Maas River, proving the value of the technique. |
| 2001 | Prime adds the Lo-Torque Hole Opener to its products and maintains inventory in Holland from 6” through 64”. |
| April 2001 | Prime successfully guides the first hard rock underground intersect in France by introducing Vector’s Rotating Magnetic Source to the market. |
| November 2002 | Prime Introduces Vector’s Pressure While Drilling (PWD) tool to the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) market to avoid mud over pressures downhole. |
| Prime successfully completes first ParaTrack HDD feasibility project in France. | |
| June 2003 | Prime successfully guides the fourth planned underground intersect, the first in the U.S.A. |
| August 2003 | Prime replaces competition in Alaska where ParaTrack-2 is used to steer with the guidewire offset more than 200 feet Away. |
| November 2003 | Prime Introduces to the HDD market in Europe the AC Beacon—the first surface wireless magnetic source. |
| 2004 | Prime begins production and sale of large diameter Split Bit Hole Openers from 36” through 64”. |
| 2005 | First Intersect with an Axial Magnet. |
| Mid 2005 | Word Record Crossing at Elbe River (2,626m/8,615ft). |
| 2006 | Elizabeth River Parallel Crossings (2 x 2,190m/7,185ft) using Benchmark and Axial Magnet. |
| 2007 | Buckinghorse Gorge Tangential Intersect 2,116m/6,942ft with a depth of 330m/1,083ft using a Surface guidewire and Rotating Magnet. |
| 2008 | World Record Intersect at Berri Causeway, Saudi Arabia (3,510m/10,335ft). |
| 2009 | World Record in Elevation at The Asiago Project, Italy. |
| First RMRS in Australia (CBM market). | |
| First Prime Mud Motor in South Africa. | |
| 2010 | Prime Horizontal Inc. opens its doors in the U.S.A. |
| First Commercial installation of the ProData System. | |
| World Record Intersect in Southampton, UK (3,925m/12,880ft). | |
| 2011 | Freeze Hole Drilling: – Naples Underground Project – Hallandsås Tunnel |
| May 2012 | First GyroTrack survey performed in Stavoren, Netherlands. |
| 2013 | New offices opened in India and Brazil. |
| June 2013 | Four Intersects for a CBM Project in Scotland completed in under four weeks. |
| July 2013 | Shock Tooling is now available. |
| November 2013 | Yangtze River intersect (3,300m/10,827ft) with a 20″ pipe diameter. |
| 2014 | That Dam Job – Cabinet Gorge Dam, Idaho 183m/600ft bore 43m/140ft depth with Wireline System and AC Beacon. |
| March 2015 | Drayton Valley 1,000m/3,281ft Intersect, Alberta, Canada. Brazeau River crossing using ParaTrack-2 and RMRS. |
| January 2016 | Two 14″ steel pipes (boreholes of 330m & 340m) in Pape’ete, French Polynesia, in delicate coral environment using the AC Beacon installed on the breakwater wall and a small guidance coil. |
| Mobile Breakout Units available for hire or sale. | |
| Mid 2016 | Announced a new stocking point in Canada. |
| July 2016 | First RMRS intersect completed in Indian sub-continent crossing the Narmada River. |
| September 2016 | Successfully executed 100 GyroTrack surveys. |
| March 2017 | Launch of MudVis: Automated Mud Viscosity and Specific Gravity measuring and logging system. The first ever of it’s kind in the history of HDD. |
| October 2017 | Prime introduces the Wireless Drillers Display Adaptors that give a signal range of 500m (1,640ft). |
| November 2017 | Unveiling of the small diameter GyroTrack Tool with an OD range of 40-75mm (1.5-3″) for post pipe mapping and data measuring. |
| September 2018 | First ever HDD Intersect performed on the island of Haiti. 625m/2,050ft using an Axial Magnet in Port au Prince. |
| April 2019 | Introduction of the Gyro Module to their range of Down Hole tooling, negating the need for separate shock absorbing tools. |
| March 2020 | Remote Operations Support in full swing. Prime Horizontal: Leaders in #HDD have implemented Remote Support Operations for global projects due to the pandemic. |
| December 2020 | World Record HDD drilling elevation set! Romsdalsgondolen, Åndalsnes, Norway for the Romsdal gondola, a state of the art electric cable car, is set to welcome visitors beginning May 2021. Distance of 1,340m/4,396ft at 690m/2,264ft. Using ParaTrack2 Gyro Module, Large Filed Beacon for tracking, utilising Gyro Module combined with Mud Motor and ABIA (At Bit Inclination Assembly). |
| January 2021 | First Gyro Module job in Australia for gas pipeline relocation using the Gyro Module & ParaTrack2 and Jetting technique. |
| February 2021 | N-Net Japan PGM project: Observation Network for Earthquakes & Tsunamis. Distance of 773m/2,536ft, depth of 82m/269ft. Tracking was withParaTrack2 Gyro Module, surface coil & AC Beacon (BTS) using 6 3/4″ Mud Motor (Outfall). |
| July 2021 | Longest Intersect in India. Distance of 3,558.74m/11,696ft and Depth of 41.5m/136ft under the Brahmaputra River for the Barauni-Guhawati Pipeline Project. Tracking used was Wireline & ParaTrack2. |
| 2022 | Parallel Bore Under The World’s Busiest Canal Distance: bore #1: 378.49m, bore #2: 381.58m underneath the Nord-Oostzeekanaal (also known as the Kiel Canal), the world’s busiest canal and the most frequented artificial waterway with an annual average of 32,000 ships (around 90 daily), transporting approximately 100 million tonnes of goods. |
| One of the largest tidal stream energy in the world! The Morlais project will install turbines on 35 sq km (13 sq miles) of seabed, generating up to 240MW of electricity from the power of the tides in the Irish Sea. | |
| Longest HDD Intersect in India & 4th Longest Crossing in the World! Distance of 4088m and Depth of 45.90m under the Brahmaputra River. | |
| 2023 | Another Record broken in India – Longest HDD Intersect 4102m Installing a 24” and 6” pipeline under the Brahmaputra River. |
| Longest HDD Intersect in Brazil! 3010m in Hard Rock! | |
| Breaking Record: Longest HDD Intersect in Poland! 2,022m in Sand/Clay using ParaTrack 2 + Gyro Module, 8” mud motor assembly and a 12 ¼” Tricone bit. Prime Horizontal provided two times the DHA and mud motors as well as the guidance with the ParaTrack-2 system. | |
| Announced 25th Anniversary! |
