‘Pioneering Spirit’ set for TurkStream pipeline work

Following a recent removal of Shell’s Brent Delta platform topsides from a location in the UK North Sea, the Allseas-owned giant vessel Pioneering Spirit is ready for another job. 

The owner of the vessel said on Thursday that the world’s largest pipelay and construction vessel will head out from a port in Rotterdam on Saturday, May 13 to an offshore location where it will work on the installation of the Black Sea pipeline.

According to the company, Pioneering Spirit will install two, 900 kilometer long pipelines on the seabed in water depth of 2200 meters.

The twin-hulled, 382 meters long and 124 meters wide vessel was awarded a contract to lay the first line of the TurkStream offshore gas pipeline in the Black Sea, with an option for laying the second line, in December 2016. Come February and Allseas also inked a deal to build the second string of the Turkstream gas pipeline’s offshore section.

Less than a week ago, Allseas started the pipelaying work on the TurkStream pipeline with the Audacia vessel, which will also be used for pipe pulling through micro-tunnels. Construction work for the pipeline in deepwater area will be performed by the Pioneering Spirit.

The offshore pipeline will consist of four parallel pipelines running through the Black Sea. The pipelines will enter the water near Anapa, on the Russian coast, and come ashore on the Turkish coast some 100 kilometers west of Istanbul, near the village of Kiyikoy.

Offshore Energy Today Staff