Allseas Pioneering Spirit delivers first topsides offshore Canada

Allseas installed the 23,000-ton topsides at Cenovus Energy’s West White Rose development offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Completed on 16 July, the lift marks Pioneering Spirit’s first-ever topsides installation onto a concrete gravity structure (CGS) and first major heavy lift assignment outside northern Europe.

The topsides structure – comprising drilling facilities, a flare boom and living quarters for 144 personnel – was mated with its 210,000-ton concrete base at the Grand Banks field location. The substructure arrived weeks earlier following a 5,500-km journey from the fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas.

Despite a demanding North Sea schedule, the vessel completed a swift transatlantic crossing to collect the structure at the Bull Arm transfer location – the first-ever direct topsides transfer to Pioneering Spirit using a self-propelled vessel – and execute the lift.