How Pioneering Spirit Lifted a 24,000-Tonne Oil Platform

Pioneering Spirit removed Brent Delta’s enormous topsides in one piece in April 2017. This Brutal Endeavors film follows the complete job: preparing the structure, connecting sixteen lifting beams in eight paired units, transferring the weight with ballast, lifting clear, and bringing the platform ashore through Iron Lady and a hydraulic skidding system. Watch NASA’s crawler transporter:    • How NASA Moves a Moon Rocket | Crawler-Tra...   Extreme Engineering & Heavy Machinery collection:    • Extreme Engineering & Heavy Machinery | Br...   Subscribe:    / @brutalendeavors   CHAPTERS 00:00 A platform becomes cargo 01:38 Three legs and a new load path 02:26 Preparing eight lift points 03:38 Cut, restrained and waiting 05:18 Pioneering Spirit and sixteen beams 06:31 Weather and positioning 08:05 Connections and motion compensation 08:54 Ballast and weight transfer 09:41 The rapid lift 10:31 Securing the cargo 11:43 The Iron Lady handoff 12:33 Tugs, tide and the receiving quay 13:20 Skidding the topsides ashore VISUALS Original AI-assisted illustrative reconstructions, not Allseas or Shell archival footage. Technical reference photographs informed the hardware review; interiors and crew are illustrative. Narration uses Chris, our established synthetic narrator. Original atmospheric music composed for this film. FACTUAL NOTES The removed cargo was the topsides; three concrete legs remained offshore. Approximately 24,000 tonnes is rounded: Shell’s completion record measured 23,727 tonnes, while project summaries commonly quote the 24,200-tonne estimate. The completion report records a 15-second rapid lift and roughly 1.5 m clearance; promotional summaries say ten seconds. This was one stage of a much longer operation. The vessel layout shown is the 2017 configuration. No claim that the lift remains today’s world record or that a forecast recycling percentage was achieved. PRIMARY SOURCES Allseas — Brent Delta topsides removal (2017 project): lift and marine transfer. https://www.allseas.com/en/what-we-do... Shell — Brent Delta Topsides Interim Close Out Report: pp. 18–22 preparation; 25–29 lift/caps; 30–35 handoff/skidding; Table 4 p. 36 weight and timing. https://www.shell.co.uk/about-us/sust... David Gration — The Arup Journal, 2019 Issue 1, pp. 34–39: restraints, eight lift points, historic vessel/beam configuration. https://www.arup.com/globalassets/dow... Shell UK — Brent Delta Platform Lift (2017): working-platform context and preparation. https://www.shell.co.uk/about-us/sust... ICT/Raster — How do you safely lift a gigantic offshore platform with a ship in a single move? (April 5, 2016): TLS motion control and monitoring. https://www.ict.eu/en/stories/how-do-... Allseas — Pioneering Spirit successfully installs test platform (August 2016): earlier full-scale trials. https://www.allseas.com/en/who-we-are... Allseas — Pioneering Spirit completes Topsides lift system harbour tests (2016): twelve beams for earlier work; four more planned for Brent Delta. https://www.allseas.com/en/who-we-are... Able UK — Marine Decommissioning: Brent Delta received and skidded onto the quay in May 2017. https://www.ableuk.com/able-marine-de... #PioneeringSpirit #BrutalEndeavors #HeavyLift