When DTD opened its Pennsylvania office in 2004, very few people in the oil and gas industry were excited about the Marcellus Shale. While the Marcellus was known to have some gas, most of it was thought to be unrecoverable. Then, two things happened. First, Range Resources brought technology used in the Texas’ Barnett Shale that increases the effectiveness of gas recovery from a well, and second, Penn State’s Dr. Engelder re-evaluated the amount of recoverable gas and found it to be 500 trillion cubic feet. Trillion with a T.
The discovery of this huge resource created a rush to bring gas out of the ground and to market. Land is (was) being leased, wells drilled and developed, and pipelines are being installed. Much of this pipeline is installed via trenching, as the pipe is laid criss-crossing Pennsylvania (and other Marcellus States). However, when important natural resources are encountered, the pipeline industry has turned to HDD. When done properly, HDD allows the pipeline to pass beneath the resource, with essentially no impact.
DTD has always specialized in completing difficult HDD bores for environmental remediation, water resources, and construction dewatering. Now with the Marcellus discovery in our back yard, we could put some of our hard-earned HDD experience to work in this niche market, preserving some of Pennsylvania’s natural resources.
As many HDD companies who rushed into Pennsylvania found out, it truly is a niche market. The combination of hard, often fractured bedrock, overlain by glacial gravels, set in narrow, steep-sided valleys is very difficult to drill. Many HDD companies who came to Pennsylvania have left, finding it just not worth it to drill here.
So, with the right experience, knowledge, and ability – and the coincidence of being located in the middle of the Marcellus – DTD has found itself an integral part of the group of HDD companies installing pipeline in PA. We bring diligence and the same dedication to safety, quality, and communication to pipeline projects as we bring to our environmental remediation projects. This uncompromising attitude allows us to complete projects safely and with minimal impact to the very resources we are trying to protect with our practice.