(Extra pictures included) Allseas’ single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit has completed the heaviest installation ever executed in a single lift offshore to date.
On 2 June, the Pioneering Spirit installed the 22,000 t Drilling Platform topsides for Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup development on the Norwegian continental shelf. This was the first platform installation job the ship performed.
Installation Project
Pioneering Spirit’s motion-compensated topsides lift system beams positioned the topsides on an eight-legged steel jacket standing at 110 m water depth. The 147 m tall topsides was transferred to Pioneering Spirit by barge in Bømlafjorden, outside Stord, on 1 June. The vessel arrived at the Johan Sverdrup field, located 160 km west of Stavanger, Norway, nine hours later and operations commenced immediately.
The actual installation, from manoeuvring around the jacket, setting down the topsides and moving out of the 500 m zone, took three hours.
Pioneering Spirit to Install Three Structures
The Drilling Platform topsides is the first of three structures Allseas' Pioneering Spirit will install during the Johan Sverdrup field’s first development phase. The vessel will return to the field in the spring of 2019 to install the 26,000 t Process Platform topsides and the 18,000 t Living Quarters platform topsides.
You can find a video and extra pictures (please click the pop-out link to view them in their proper dimensions) of the installation project below. All footage by Allseas.
