Pioneering Spirit returns to Black Sea for Turkstream Line 2

Giant Pioneering Spirit multi-purpose vessel is back in the Black Sea following a recent heavy lifting operation in Norway, where it installed a giant Johan Sverdrup topside in a single lift.

The large catamaran is now again in the Black Sea where it will once more serve as a pipelayer. The vessel in April completed the installation of Line 1 of Gazprom’s TurkStream gas pipeline in the Black Sea, connecting Russia and Turkey.

Today, Pioneering Spirit resumed pipelaying of the second offshore string (Line 2) for the TurkStream offshore gas pipeline towards Kiyikoy in Turkey.

After entering the Black Sea on June 20, Pioneering Spirit completed a set of preparatory works, including lowering of the stinger and re-testing of pipelay equipment.

The pipeline head of the second string was recovered from the bottom of the Black Sea on the border of Russian and Turkish Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) at a depth of 2,170 meters. This pipeline section up to the EEZ border at kilometer point 224 was installed in 2017.

Gazprom-operated TurkStream is a gas pipeline project stretching across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey and further to Turkey’s border with neighboring countries.

The first line of the gas pipeline is intended for the Turkish consumers, while the second line is designated for the Southern and South-Eastern Europe.

Each line will have the throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters of gas per year.