Marine contractor Allseas is testing new equipment aboard its behemoth twin-hull vessel Pioneering Spirit as it prepares for its next deployment.

The Swiss vessel owner released pictures this week of the pipelay stinger and stinger transition frame (STF) that have been installed in the bow slot of Pioneering Spirit for the first time.

In transit mode, the combination of stinger and STF increase the giant vessel's overall length to almost 450 metres.

Meanwhile, crews on board are carrying out pipeline production trials. They are testing pipelay equipment and systems in the double-joint factory and main firing line.

After that, the stinger and STF will be removed and stored on the stinger barge Bumblebee, custom built by Cosco.

Pioneering Spirit, which was commissioned last year and is currently in trials off Rotterdam, completed its first contract in August in the high-profile removal of the 13,500-tonne topsides of the Yme production platform.

Up next it will undertake the heaviest offshore lift in history with the removal of the 23,500-tonne deck of Shell's Brent Delta platform in the UK. That is expected to occur early in the summer.

After that, Pioneering Spirit will commence work on a coveted pipelay contract for Gazprom. The Russian operator hired Allseas to install two major gas export trunklines across the Black and Baltic seas, respectively.

The first deal covers installation of Gazprom's 900-kilometre TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea, from the Russian coast to Turkey.

The second covers installation of Gazprom's 1200-kilometre Nord Stream 2 across the Baltic Sea, from north-western Russia to northern Germany.

Pioneering Spirit is expected to mobilise to the Black Sea at the end of the first half of this year, with work set to begin in the second half.

Both pipeline agreements include an option to install a second pipeline, running parallel to the first, which means Allseas could end up installing 4200 kilometres of large-diameter pipe for the Russian gas monopoly over the next several years.

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Pioneering Spirit tests new equipment