Equinor Energy on behalf of the Statfjord A Unit, has awarded Allseas a contract for the removal, transfer, load-in to shore and disposal of the 48,000 t Statfjord A platform topsides. Allseas’ record-breaking heavy lift and pipelay vessel “Pioneering Spirit” will remove the topsides from its concrete gravity based substructure in one piece after 2022.

One of the largest platforms on the Norwegian continental shelf, Statfjord A stands in 149 m (490 ft) of water in the centre of the Statfjord field, located in the northern North Sea, approximately 120 miles west of Bergen. The 84 m long, 54 m wide topsides has a weight equal to Pioneering Spirit’s single-lift capacity.

Prior to the lifting operation, Allseas will increase the capacity of the vessel’s revolutionary motioncompensated topsides lifting system (TLS), developed in-house, from the current 48,000 t to a capacity larger than needed for this removal in order to take into account any weight deviations.

This award underpins the very philosophy of Pioneering Spirit, and the rationale of bringing her into the market.

Allseas has selected Kvaerner AS to demolish the topsides at its Stord disposal facility on the west coast of Norway. The topsides will be transferred from Pioneering Spirit to Allseas’ special-purpose cargo barge “Iron Lady” for towage to the yard and skidding onto the quay, capable of bearing the topsides’ enormous weight.

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