Palfinger Cranes Ordered for Unmanned Platform

PALFINGER MARINE has been awarded a contract from Heerema Fabrication Group in Zwijndrecht for delivery of two cranes for an unmanned platform.

The platform will be operated by Statoil (STO) at Oseberg Vestflanken 2, and is an unmanned and remote-controlled wellhead platform with ten well slots. A jack-up drilling rig, Cat-J, will be employed to perform the drilling activity.

This project is expected to mark a new phase in the North Sea field developments where traditional subsea infrastructure can be replaced by unmanned wellhead platforms (UWP).

This new crane design is developed for projects where the time interval between crane operations can be up to a year. The technical solutions are focusing on low maintenance frequency and quick mobilization of the crane after the storage period. All major critical equipment on the crane is protected from the environment, and there is no need to dismantle equipment from the crane before storage. The cranes are developed in close cooperation with the customer in order to find the most cost-effective and reliable solution for the project.

The concept from PALFINGER MARINE is based on a fully electric crane. The technical solutions are developed based on the experience from previous similar deliveries combined with experience from cranes delivered to windmills, which have similar low frequency of use as an unmanned installation.