Offshore staff
SCHIEDAM, the Netherlands — Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit, supported by the Oceanic vessel, has completed its first offshore pipeline pull-ins.
These concluded the nearshore pipelay scope in the Norwegian North Sea for the new Statpipe landfall approach at Kalstø.
The program involved transport and installation (T&I) of 2.4 km of 28-inch and 2.2 km of 30-inch pipe, both pulled into the onshore valve station through a 1-km subsea S-shaped tunnel that had been drilled and blasted through solid rock.
Operations began with Oceanic installing multiple counteracts and replacing the messenger wires with larger pull-in cables. Pioneering Spirit, working in shallow water, picked up the first pull-in cable, performed laying around the counteracts and then laid down, a process repeated for the second line.
According to Allseas, close communication between the onshore winch operator and the vessel’s onboard tensioner operator was critical, as any tension difference could have caused the pipeline catenary to pulse and touch the tunnel entrance, with potential damage to the pipeline.
The company has since secured a new T&I contract for two offshore substations (OSS) for the Gennaker wind farm in the German Baltic Sea, developed by transmission operator 50Hertz. Gennaker, 15 km from the coast near the Darß peninsula, will have a production capacity of 900 MW, the largest of any offshore wind farm to date in the Baltic Sea.
The HSI construction consortium of HSM Offshore Energy, Smulders and Iv awarded the T&I contract for the Gennaker West (OSS-DarB) and East (OSS-Zingst) converter platforms, including supporting suction bucket jackets.
Pioneering Spirit will employ its transport and lift capability to install the suction bucket jackets and the 61-m-long, 34-m-wide topsides in one offshore campaign.
04.30.2024
