Drilling Contractors Association (DCA-Europe)

The Drilling Contractors Association (DCA-Europe) was founded as a European association by leading contractors from the horizontal drilling industry in December 1994. Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) was developed in the late 1970s from the deflected drillings used in exploration drilling. It has become an internationally renowned alternative to cross underground obstacles when installing pipeline systems, both in technical and in economical terms. Our main objectives are to maintain, promote and to further develop the technical standards of HDD in Europe. Furthermore, we aim at improving the framework conditions for the application of this relatively new method. This can be achieved, first and foremost, by establishing common standards for quality assurance and unified licensing procedures and by promoting further education and training as well as research and development.