The 13,247ft (4,037m) drill allowed installation of a 20in pipe under the Missouri River. The project used the pilot-hole intersection method, which requires two rigs to drill simultaneously toward one another from both sides of the project and eventually meet near the middle.

Gyroscopic guidance tools were used to stay precisely on the predetermined path. To minimise disturbances to the area, the bore path extended 268ft below the bottom of the Lake Sakakawea Reservoir in the Missouri River.

Michels' crews also assembled and handled the pipe string, which took 38 hours to pull into place in three sections.

The installation is part of a 10-mile pipeline between a compressor station and a natural gas gathering system in the Bakken shale oil fields in Williams County, North Dakota.