Allseas’ huge single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit has successfully installed a 5500-tonne test platform topsides on a substructure in the K-13 field in the Dutch sector of the North Sea.
The installation was completed on Sunday 7 August, just a day after the vessel set sail from Rotterdam, following final commissioning of its 12 topsides lifting beams.
The motion-compensated topsides lift system beams accurately positioned the topsides, after which installation went exactly as planned, says Allseas.
In the coming days, Pioneering Spirit will perform DP trials, followed by a series of installation and removal trials with the test platform topsides under varying weather conditions.
After the successful completion of the offshore trials, the vessel will then sail to Norway to remove the 13,500-tonne Yme platform for Repsol.
The vessel, which is 382m-long and 124m-wide, and built to perform 48,000-tonne topsides lifts and 25,000-tonne jacket removals.
Following removal of the Yme platform, Pioneering Spirit will return to Rotterdam where the remaining four topsides lifting beams will be installed for the Shell Brent Delta topsides removal, scheduled for the summer of 2017.
The vessel, a concept few thought could be realized since its creation in 1987, was built in South Korea.
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Take a virtual picture tour of the Pioneering Spirit
Pioneering Spirit starts offshore trials
Image: Pioneering Spirit departing Rotterdam on Saturday morning. Photo from Kees Torn/Flickr.
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