March 2 - Statoil has signed a contract with Allseas for the installation of three platform topsides on the Johan Sverdup field, using its recently renamed platform installation and decommissioning vessel Pioneering Spirit.
Allseas will transfer the topsides to Pioneering Spirit before they are transported to the field, where each topside will be installed on steel jackets.
The drilling platform topsides will be installed in 2018, with the processing and living quarter topsides following in 2019.
The Pioneering Spirit, with its 48,000-tonne topside lifting capacity, will carry out its heaviest lift during the project when it hoists the 26,000-tonne processing platform into place.
The contract award is subject to the Norwegian parliament's approval of the plan for development and operation of the Johan Sverdrup field in 2015.
