The towing of the semi-submersible Kristin platform has been successfully
accomplished with support from Kongsberg Maritime systems. iSurvey, a
specialist in navigation, positioning and survey services utilised the
Kongsberg Maritime multi reference DGPS system DPS, as the reference
system during the towing to provide accurate positioning of the platform
and tugs.
The semi-submersible Kristin production platform was towed to the Statoil
development in the Norwegian Sea. Setting off on March 25th, from Aker
Kværner yard at Stord (south of Bergen), Kristin arrived on the Haltenbank
in the early hours of March 29th with the assistance of five of the
world's largest seagoing tugs. The tugs are all owned by Mærsk, and
include one towing forward of the platform, one at each side and one aft.
Tug number five was serving as an escort.
With senior iSurvey offshore surveyors operating the Kongsberg Maritime
positioning equipment onboard Kristin, the towing operation demonstrated a
high level of co-operation between all the companies involved.
For safety reasons, the platform - which has no engines of its own - was
towed in the open sea and could not be observed from land during its
voyage.
Plans called for installation work to be completed by May 15th, with the
first gas due to arrive topside on July 1st and production scheduled to
start on October 1st.