Directional Drilling, also known as Horizontal Directional Drilling or HDD, is a drilling, boring, installing or replacing method. It is used to install pipes for different purposes. It can also be called the trenchless method. It is the method of drilling holes by the means of a drilling rig. It is a very modern method and different from the usual time consuming trench methods. It is a widely preferred method as it saves time and drills the surface area or land without disrupting the surrounding buildings or historic structures.

This method is used to install the pipes or cables, such as, of water, gas, sewage pipes, telecommunication cables, electric pipes. It is an environment friendly method. Any type of pipe can be installed with this method, such as, plastic, steel and many more. This method is also used to install the fiber optic cables, which is the new trend in the modern time.

Some of the advantages of the directional drilling are:

It protects the landscape while drilling work. It doesn’t cause any disruptions to the surrounding buildings, roads, rivers, etc.

It is money saving and saves the excavation costs.

It is a safer drilling technique and doesn’t cause any incidents or damages.

The work doesn’t stop by the weather conditions.

It doesn’t cause any traffic jams while drilling under the road.

The work is done quickly.

It can be installed or used in any area and can be said as the flexible method.

A lot of inventions and innovations have been seen in the field of directional drilling over the years. Some of the recent innovations in the drilling industries are:

The Seismic Technique – is the recently used technique, which means to use the energy of the sound to check the formation of the rock, which helps in determining whether there are water, oil or gas bearings. This helps the companies to find the gas and oil reserves.

The Directional Drilling method helps in the controlled deviation of a hole. The well depth can go several feet with this method. It can also be applied in sensitive areas.

Horizontal Drilling is a one step further than the directional drilling. It drills in horizontal direction. It can drill multiple directional drills through just one point.

The Hydro jet technology helps in getting more access to the oil or gas reserves through the already present holes.

These are some of the innovations seen in the directional drilling over the past years. They are helpful and have increased the scope of the HDD throughout the world.