OREANDA-NEWS. On May 29, 2007 Sakhalin Energy and Samsung Heavy Industries held a ceremony in South Korea to celebrate Piltun-Astokhskoye (PA-B) topsides’ completion and sail away to the North of Sakhalin, reported the press-centre of  Sakhalin Energy.

Somewhere a year ago the whole world watched the record-breaking installation of the first Russian gas platform – Lunksoye-A – the PA-B elder sister.

Today is the turn of the PA-B with its some 28,000 tonnes structure to promenade from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard on Geoje Island to its point of installation and break another world record as the heaviest structure being ever shipped.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, involving representatives of Russian, Korean, Japanese and Dutch delegations, Chris Finlayson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sakhalin Energy, thanked all involved in the construction: “What we celebrate today is a remarkable milestone in the development of Sakhalin II Phase 2, one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects in the world”.

The PA-B topsides weighing an incredible 28,000 tonnes will shortly sail some 2800 kilometres to their new home offshore Sakhalin where they’ll be floated over and carefully placed on their concrete base which has been patiently waiting in the frozen winter waters since 2005.

“The PA-B platform is 6 thousand tonnes heavier than Lunskoye-A, so we should be prepared for new records this summer. Both the topsides and the installation exercise are unique and constitute a real triumph of engineering and technology in the world of oil and gas” – added Chris during the ceremony.