The video shows the world’s biggest heavy-lift vessel ‘Pioneering Spirit’ completing 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.
On Thursday 31 May, the topside for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform sailed from the Aibel yard in Haugesund to Bømlafjorden at Stord.
Here the 22,000-tonne steel structure was transferred from the barge to Pioneering Spirit, Allseas’ single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel. All set for the eleven-hour journey to the jacket waiting for its topside on the Johan Sverdrup field.
After initial preparations, the actual installation job took only three hours. This makes it likely the fastest ever installation of a large, fully completed topside.
The second of four platforms in the first development phase of the giant Johan Sverdrup field is thus installed.
The Johan Sverdrup drilling platform is now fully completed and 85% fully tested. The last phase – hook-up and testing – starts now. The platform is due to become operational this autumn, and the tie-back to the platform of eight wells pre-drilled by the Deepsea Atlantic semi-submersible in 2016 starts towards the end of the year.
