Offshore staff
DELFT, the Netherlands – Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit has completed a topsides removal campaign for Spirit Energy’s Morecambe Bay development in the East Irish Sea.
The vessel recently removed the 5,450-metric ton (6,006-ton) topsides from the DP3 gas production platform in a single lift. This follows the single-lift removal of the adjacent DP4 gas production platform topsides and subsequent transport to the UK in April.
According to the company, the vessel’s motion-compensated lift technology proved effective in the shallow waters of Morecambe Bay, renowned for strong currents and challenging tidal conditions. For both operations, it was a matter of hours between arrival in the field and safe lift execution.
The Pioneering Spirit will deliver the DP3 topsides to a new disposal and recycling facility at the Fife Energy Park, Scotland, where it will be reunited with the 5,400-metric ton (5,952-ton) DP4 structure next week.
Allseas’ scope covers engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal of two 11,000-metric ton (12,125-ton) normally unmanned installations and 1,000 metric tons (1,102 tons) of connected subsea infrastructure.
The latter, including wellheads, pipelines and umbilicals, was removed by the company’s construction support vessel Oceanic in a complicated sequence of about 180 lifts.
The Pioneering Spirit will return to Morecambe Bay to remove the DP3 and DP4 jackets in 2023.
Though operational since 2016, this project is the vessel’s first heavy-lift assignment outside the North Sea.
The Pioneering Spirit has installed and removed more than 200,000 metric tons (220,462 tons) of platform weight, according to Allseas.
06/09/2021
