Underground Construction - June 2021 - 30

22nd Annual Directional Drilling Survey
tion of electric distribution lines, especially
small-to-medium rigs. Now, the record
February deep freeze of Texas and much of
the southern U.S. slammed the electric grid
and states are still working with utilities trying
to figure out how to prevent such a power
outage disaster from ever happening again.
That means " hardening " of electric lines
and renewed emphasis to place plants
underground. Even electric transmission
lines are being pushed to go underground
as installation costs, primarily via HDD,
continue to become more competitive.
Water is steadily becoming a solid
growth market for HDD of all sizes. The
survey revealed that market segment
continues to gain in popularity and
contractors are learning that the public
What is the most common type of pipe installed via HDD?
49.7
48.3
46.6
40
49.0
works markets are offering opportunities,
both in water and sewer.
50
49.1 HDPE
30
26.1
24.7
22.5
20
10
12.4
10.0
5.4
2016
2017
12.8
9.9
6.0
12.1
8.8
4.7
2018
11.4
8.7
4.6
2019
Important qualities contractors seek from vendors
(% of respondents citing only one characteristic)
50
41.9%
40
33.6%
30
10.8 Steel
8.7
Iron
4.9
2020
26.3
26.5 PVC
Other
Ductile/
For the past several years, medium-sized
rigs have been a hot commodity. Survey
respondents say that while some of their
work for pipelines has dried up for the time
being, they are still able to utilize those rigs
for multiple applications. And the price
point, combined with diversity offered with
mid-rigs, continues to drive their popularity.
As the pandemic eases, the HDD market
composition has changed somewhat in
2021. Predictably, telecom work gained a
larger percent of project market share at
26.7 percent; water grew to 20.1 percent, gas
distribution held steady at 13 percent; sewer
grew to 9.2 percent; and oil and gas pipeline
work fell to 6.8 percent. Wind and solar
applications held steady at 1.8 percent, while
varied and often innovative uses of HDD
came in with a 2.6-percent market share.
When asked about future prospects for
continued growth of HDD, most respondents
strongly agreed the technology has a
bright future. " We love this industry - it's
been very good for us, " exclaimed a Midwest
contractor. " There should be strong applications
for HDD for years to come. "
A Southeast contractor agreed. " When
we first got into HDD, we felt like we were
doing so because we had to for competitive
reasons, not because we wanted to. But
now, I can't imagine running our operation
without HDD playing a major role. "
New guys
Contractors have complained for years
about recent entrants in the HDD market
jumping in without adequate knowledge to
perform the projects they were winning by
underpricing and subsequently, frequently
under-performing on jobs.
Mud disposal of drilling fluid remains
a major issue for many contractors and
was again referenced frequently in the
survey comments.
20
10
8.9%
8.5%
5.9%
1.2%
Service
Quality
30 JUNE 2021 | UCONonline.com
Availability
Cost of
service/equipment
Technical
knowledge
Location
The average age of a contractor's HDD
rig fleet increased slightly in 2020. Rigs 10
years and older comprise about 13.9 percent
of active units. Contractors cautiously hanging
onto rigs was not a surprising development
during the height of the pandemic.
On the other hand, rigs less than
two years old declined slightly from
25.9 to 24.8 percent. Reasons cited were
caution during the pandemic, but also
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Underground Construction - June 2021

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