Boart Longyear wins slant well deal

California American Water (CalAm) has selected drilling firm, Boart Longyear, to construct seven to nine source water slant wells that would draw ocean water for a desalination facility proposed as part of CalAm’s US$ 320 million Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project.

Boart Longyear provided the lowest cost of the three respondents to a request for proposals issued in September according to CalAm. Boart Longyear’s proposal was about US$ 2.8 million a well, which was slightly lower than CalAm’s estimate.

Respondents were evaluated on business, technical and price criteria.

“The knowledge we have gained from the test well helped us to create a meaningful request for proposals that has resulted in quality proposals with well-informed cost estimates and an advanced understanding of the task at hand,” said Cal Am’s vice president of engineering Deana Donohue.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Boart Longyear to extend our footprint in the desalination market and be a leader in this industry,” said Boart Longyear’s territory Contracts Manager Jason Lamb. “Our in-house engineering group is excited with the news and our operations team can’t wait to get started.”

CalAm and Boart Longyear constructed a test slant well earlier this year to assess the feasibility of the technology at CalAm’s preferred project site. Water quality results and production capability of the test slant well have so far exceeded expectations said CalAm.
CalAm will now pass the responses to the request for proposals and its evaluation report and draft contract to the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project Governance Committee, which will make further recommendations.

The proposals and evaluation report will be posted to the project’s website, where more information on the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project can be found, including data from the test slant well and the latest news and updates on the project’s progress.

The Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project is intended to replace the local community’s current reliance on the Carmel River as its primary source of water supply and is expected to be complete in 2019.