The 2026 DCA Member Forum—which was very well attended at the end of April, drawing over 70 participants—has made it clear that the categorisation of HDD drillings requires a fundamental rethinking. Rigid categories are reaching their limits in the face of increasing project diversity. What is needed are practical, risk-oriented tools that reflect technical complexity without subjecting projects to unnecessary overregulation.
In this context, the role of the DCA lies less in establishing new thresholds than in providing clear, technically sound guidelines. The approaches developed at the forum offer a robust foundation for better balancing planning certainty, economic efficiency, and technical quality in the future.
In the second half of the year, the DCA will establish a new task group dedicated to this subject area, with the aim of incorporating the findings into a new Technical Information.
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