Pioneering Spirit Ready to Remove North Sea Platforms
The single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit has successfully completed commissioning of the topsides lift system and the major part of the harbor test program, according to Allseas.
All 12 installed topsides lifting beams on board the Pioneering Spirit have been tested to their respective lift capacities of nearly 3,700 metric tons (4,079 tons). The last of the four tests, involving four beams lifting 14,700 metric tons (16,204 tons), was performed on July 23.
During the lifting trials at Rotterdam’s Alexia harbor, the 12 beams together lifted more than 44,000 metric tons (48,502 tons).
Allseas says once the vessel has completed offshore trials and tests of the platform topsides installation, removal exercises will now begin in the southern North Sea throughout August.
Removal of Repsol’s 13,500-metric ton (14,881-ton) Yme mobile offshore production unit offshore Norway is planned to occur following successful completion of this test program, and once all other necessary prerequisites and approvals are in place.
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, which is scheduled for the summer of 2017.
