Allseas’ dynamically positioned single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel, the Pioneering Spirit, installed the 5500 t test platform topsides on the substructure in the K-13 field in the North Sea on Sunday, August 7.
This follows recent completion of commissioning of the topsides lift system and completion of the major part of the harbor test program after which the giant vessel headed to the North Sea for a series of offshore trials .
Allseas, the owner of the vessel, said on Tuesday that installation of the test platform marked a ‘major milestone’.
The motion-compensated topsides lift system beams accurately positioned the topsides, after which installation went exactly as planned, the company further added.
In the coming days, the 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 completion of the offshore trials, the Pioneering Spirit will sail to Norway to remove the 13,500 t Yme platform for Repsol.
Following removal of the Yme platform, the 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.