Allsea’s PIONEERING SPIRIT vessel installs Sverdrup drilling platform topsides

PIONEERING SPIRIT construction vessel completed the heaviest installation lift work for the Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup development in the Norwegian North Sea.
The 147-m (482-ft) tall topsides was transferred from a barge to the PIONEERING SPIRIT at Bømlafjorden, in western Norway. The installation program lasted three hours.
The PIONEERING SPIRIT will return to the field in spring 2019 to install other sections of the platforms (additional topside and living quarters).
Equinor points out that the new lifting technology on the Pioneering Spirit allows entire topsides of up to 48,000 metric tons (52,911 tons) to be lifted in one operation, a new world record.
Equinor expects the drilling platform to be onstream from 4Q 2018, and first oil in late 2019.