Pioneering Spirit, with support from Oceanic, has successfully executed her first pipeline pull-ins in completing the nearshore pipelay scope for the new Statpipe landfall approach at Kalstø, Norway, according to the company's release.
The project involved transport and installation of 2.4 kilometres of 28-inch and 2.2 kilometres of 30-inch pipe, both pulled into the onshore valve station through a 1-kilometre subsea S-shaped tunnel, drilled and blasted through solid rock. A challenging operation due to the narrow laying tolerances.
Operations kicked off with Oceanic installing multiple counteracts and replacing the messenger wires with bigger pull-in cables. Working in shallow water, the world’s largest pipelay vessel picked up the first pull-in cable, lay around the counteracts and laid down, repeating for the second line.