Dutch offshore installation firm Heerema Marine Contractors said Tuesday it had broken a world lifting record with the installation of a 17,000 metric ton TotalEnergies' Tyra TEG module in the Danish sector of the North Sea.
The TEG module, described as the biggest Tyra II project topside, was installed on the last remaining bare jacket at the Tyra offshore field.
"The lift of the 17,000 metric tons heavy process module broke a world record as the heaviest crane lift ever undertaken at sea. Nothing was left to chance when the two crane drivers, with the support of more than 260 offshore workers onboard Sleipnir, lifted what corresponds to the weight of around two Eiffel Towers," Heerema Marine Contractors said.
According to Heerema, the lift has been prepared for years, and every single step prior to, during, and post lifting has been outlined in a several hundred pages long manual prepared by Heerema Marine Contractors and TotalEnergies.
After the processing module arrived at the Tyra field on October 3, the offshore crew immediately went into action mode and started to remove the sea fastening below the 47-meter-tall module.
The sea fastening helped to ensure a safe and stable journey from Indonesia.
Per Heerema, thanks to great weather conditions, the crane drivers got the green light to lift the module into its final position less than 24 hours after its arrival and four days ahead of schedule.
Heerema said that the process required a lot of coordination, horsepower, and precision when the crew on Sleipnir had to install the enormous process module.
With two enormous crane hooks, the team picked up the process module from the heavy transport vessel GPO Emerald.
Afterward, they sailed one nautical mile to the final bare jacket while they raised the module by nine meters to then lower it onto the six legs.
In the coming weeks, the final Tyra II pieces – two bridges and a flare – will be installed.
When all connections are welded, the Heerema installation team will hand over the baton to the TotalEnergies hook-up and commissioning team, who will focus on completing and powering up the installed platforms and reconnecting them to the existing North Sea infrastructure.
Lars Bo Christiansen, Project Director Deputy for TotalEnergies EP Denmark A/S: "Finally, Tyra II is in place. The team has been preparing this world record lift for years, and it was truly impressive to see how the planning culminated in just six hours when the world’s largest crane vessel Sleipnir helped us to put the enormous new process module into final position.
"I’m very pleased that we executed this crucial lift ahead of schedule in our new project plan. Only three more lifts to complete and then our new Tyra II will be in its final shape.'
Michel Hendriks, COO for Heerema: "The safe and successful installation of the 17,000 metric ton TEG module is a fantastic milestone for Heerema and Sleipnir. The record-breaking lift demonstrated the vessel's capacity to install enormous structures at sea. We are proud to have contributed to this key milestone in TotalEnergies and Danish Underground Consortium Partners' Tyra Redevelopment project. The project's success resulted from six years of close partnership and collaboration between all parties involved."
The Tyra field is the largest gas condensate field in the Danish Sector of the North Sea. Due to seabed subsidence, the Tyra field required a redevelopment, calling for the removal and decommissioning of the prior Tyra platforms, reuse, and a 13-meter extension of the existing jackets at six platforms, and the construction and installation of new topsides and a new processing platform, and a new accommodation platform.
The processing module installed on Tuesday will, at peak, be able to process 300 million standard cubic feet gas per day, which comes from both Tyra and five unmanned satellite fields, namely Tyra Southeast, Harald, Valdemar, Svend and Roar.