- 6/2/2025
Floating Deep Sea Oil Rig. The World is running out of oil. But new Mega structures could unlock the planet’s last reserves. The PIONEER - a floating oil rig. She’s designed to reach deep sea oil in waters too treacherous for traditional rigs. She’s built to survive savage storms and engineered to escape devastating waves. She’ll go deeper than ever before, to tap oil wells over two and half kilometers beneath the sea. But the PIONEER is much more than a state-of-the-art floating super rig. She’s the ultimate recycling project, built from an ageing tanker,at a price tag of 600 million dollars. If the PIONEER’s makeover succeeds, it could unlock perhaps a billion barrels of oil. If it fails, it could be catastrophic.
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TVTranscript
00:00The world is running out of oil, but new megastructures could unlock the planet's last reserves.
00:07The Pioneer, a floating oil rig.
00:10She's designed to reach deep sea oil in waters too treacherous for traditional rigs.
00:15She's built to survive savage storms and engineered to escape devastating waves.
00:21She'll go deeper than ever before to tap oil wells over two and a half kilometers beneath the sea.
00:28But the Pioneer is much more than a state-of-the-art super rig.
00:32She's the ultimate recycling project, built from an aging tanker at a price tag of $600 million.
00:41If the Pioneer's makeover succeeds, it could unlock perhaps a billion barrels of oil.
00:48If it fails, it could be catastrophic.
00:58The Pioneer is about to embark on an incredible journey.
01:08She is an FPSO, a floating production storage and offloading vessel.
01:14Or more simply, a floating oil rig designed to unlock oil fields buried deep beneath the sea.
01:22Captain Jarla Christiansen will sail her into dangerous waters.
01:30The Pioneer will be his home and office for the next seven years.
01:35It's a day that a lot of people have been working towards this day for nearly one and a half years.
01:42The Pioneer will enter the record books the day she sets sail.
01:47Her journey will take her across the Atlantic, straight through what's known as the Golden Triangle of Deep Sea Oil.
01:54The place where some of the world's elusive oil deposits are thought to lie.
01:59She will head to the tip of the Triangle, the Gulf of Mexico, to plumb depths never attempted before.
02:07The oil field she will tap lies 2.6 kilometers beneath the sea.
02:13She's also been designed to survive savage storms.
02:18August 2005. Hurricane Katrina rips through the seas where the Pioneer will anchor.
02:25It devastates New Orleans and destroys 30 oil rigs.
02:30Three years later, more were destroyed when Hurricane Gustav tore through the Gulf.
02:35But the Pioneer has been engineered to sail away from danger.
02:40Keppel Shipyard, Singapore.
02:44This is where the Pioneer's journey as a floating rig begins, over 15 months ago.
02:51A very different Pioneer limps into the docks.
02:54A battered oil tanker 17 years old and at the end of her life.
03:00Her aging hulk is three times longer and a hundred times heavier than a jumbo jet.
03:06But instead of the scrapyard, the Pioneer has been chosen for the ultimate recycling project.
03:13She's about to undergo the shipping industry's very own version of a makeover.
03:20Her hull will get a facelift.
03:23Extra cabins will be fitted to house a larger crew.
03:27A special turret will connect her to the oil fields.
03:30And her deck will be crammed with state-of-the-art machinery.
03:34By the end of her makeover, she will tip the scales at 30,000 tons.
03:41Almost double what she weighs today.
03:43As she's transformed from an aging tanker to a state-of-the-art floating rig.
03:49An army of workers will clock in over four million man-hours before the Pioneer will be ready to begin her new life.
04:01Jarle Christiansen has signed up as her captain for the next seven years.
04:08One of my major jobs here is to make sure that everybody on board feels safe.
04:14And I also feel comfortable.
04:17It's long days.
04:20We never work less than 12 hours.
04:24There is no days off.
04:25There's no holidays on board.
04:27Whether it's Good Friday or Boxing Day, it's business as usual.
04:32The Pioneer's makeover doesn't come cheap.
04:36The price tag to transform her is a staggering $600 million.
04:41After 17 years at sea, the Pioneer is a mess.
04:47Her pipes and tanks need to be unclogged of tons of filth and sludge.
04:53After that, repairs to her ravaged body can begin.
04:57Over 3,000 tons of steel will be needed to get her body shipshape for her new life.
05:04Only then will she be ready for the next phase of her transformation.
05:09As a state-of-the-art floating rig, she'll pump 80,000 barrels of oil a day.
05:16That's $11 million at peak prices.
05:20But with over a year to go, for now, she exists only in the imaginations of the makeover team.
05:26As you know, this is going to be the first FTSO in the Gulf of Mexico.
05:33Rolf heads the project.
05:35He's been involved since day one.
05:37Tom and his engineers will bring on board the technology to process the oil.
05:42Jamil will fight to keep the Pioneer on schedule.
05:47There's the captain, of course.
05:51And in any team, there's always a Mr. Fix-It.
05:56Ashik swapped a desk-bound job to work on the Pioneer.
06:01He thinks the makeover will be a breeze.
06:04If he only knew.
06:06Basically, it's just another day.
06:08Actually, for us, it's a walk in the park because we have been doing this for years.
06:13Ashik kicks off the first big job of the makeover.
06:18The funnel has to go.
06:20The Pioneer's engine needs an overhaul to escape storms in the Gulf.
06:25So the ship's funnel needs to be removed to allow the team to get to the engine room.
06:32A floating crane is called in.
06:36The funnel creaks up.
06:38Forty tons of steel hang in the balance.
06:41But Ashik gets it right the first time.
06:44The Pioneer is unique.
06:46But her makeover is the culmination of expertise refined over 30 years.
06:51In 1977, the first floating rig, the Castellan, tapped an oil well beneath the Mediterranean in just over 100 meters of water.
07:04Since then, engineers have pushed the boundaries of deep sea oil technology to launch some 200 floating rigs to join the world's fleet.
07:14The islands in the Singapore Straits are a hot spot for tanker makeovers.
07:25And the starting point for many is the Indonesian island of Karimun.
07:35Until a few weeks ago, the Sunrise 4 was a VLCC, a very large crude carrier.
07:42Just like the Pioneer, it is about to get a new lease on life as a floating rig.
07:49The Sunrise's makeover begins deep in its cargo tanks.
07:53They've been flooded so engineers can check every corner of its aging body.
07:58My assistant will do all the thickness measurement.
08:01I will do the recording and judgment of whether the plane will be renewed or is it a suspect area.
08:07Tankers have a shelf life of about 20 years.
08:11Using ultrasound, the engineers can measure the thickness of the steel.
08:16The readings highlight the parts that need to be replaced.
08:20For today, it's considered good as there's no losses or damaged cracks and anything.
08:25The tank is over three stories deep.
08:28To check the next level down, the water the engineers are floating on is slowly drained
08:33to reveal more of the ship's corroding hull.
08:40The next step is to get these swimmers into the act.
08:44Inside the Sunrise, it's hot, humid and dark and the air reeks of petrol fumes.
08:50The tank is coated with highly flammable sludge.
08:53The swimmer's job is to remove it.
08:56Until then, any work involving sparks like drilling or welding is far too dangerous.
09:03One way to clean the tank is with old-fashioned elbow grease.
09:09Working in 90-minute shifts with half-hourly breaks between, the swimmers have their work cut out.
09:16This tank is done for two days until this level.
09:23Maybe one day and a half will be ready.
09:28Liposuction on a tanker can clean out tons of sludge.
09:32Some could be used to tar new roads.
09:35Or the sludge ends up in landfills after recycling to extract oil.
09:39Meanwhile, back on the Pioneer, Ashik prepares to rebuild the Pioneer's cabins
09:47when the makeover hits its first major snag.
09:51You want to change the lifting arrangement?
09:53Yeah, very special.
09:57Every day, as the world guzzles over 85 million barrels of oil,
10:02the planet gets warmer and the oil fields dry up.
10:05Until alternatives are found, engineers push the limits of technology to reach oil deep under the sea.
10:16At Singapore's Keppel shipyard, an aging tanker, the Pioneer,
10:21is being transformed into a floating oil rig designed to reach record-breaking depths.
10:26The Pioneer's makeover team meets each morning.
10:37Their task is daunting.
10:40So are the hours.
10:41We have our daily meeting.
10:43We have our weekly meeting.
10:44We got our monthly meeting.
10:45We got all these, all kinds of meetings.
10:48The Pioneer will need many more hands on deck in its new life as a floating rig.
10:55So this morning, the team plans for the expansion of the ship's cabins.
11:01The job falls to hull engineer Ashik.
11:05He has to squeeze in a whole new story between the existing cabins and the captain's bridge.
11:10If that sounds complicated, it gets even trickier.
11:19This is actually the first time we have done that.
11:23To cut off this part, put it down on the deck, add a new block, weld it back on again.
11:28We haven't done that before.
11:30Late afternoon, they're doing better than they thought.
11:33The captain's bridge has been removed.
11:37And the new deck, complete with extra cabins, swings into place like a super-sized Lego brick.
11:52The old Pioneer used to house just 30 people.
11:56But when it transforms into a floating rig, it'll need room for an additional 50.
12:01Not just crew, but specialist engineers to run the machines which will pump and process the oil.
12:15With the expansion going to plan, the captain can turn his mind to more delicate matters.
12:22This one? No good, I don't like.
12:25This one here? It's too dark.
12:26It's time to decorate his cabin, but the captain doesn't get much to say.
12:30All the cabins will sit above 600,000 barrels of crude oil.
12:35So there are very strict rules as to just what materials can be used.
12:39At least he gets some choice of sofa stuffing.
12:42It's fire tested.
12:43It's not like building a house and you could pick out the wallpaper or curtains.
12:57The number of choices we had was very, very limited.
13:00Back on deck with the new cabins in place.
13:05It's time to put the captain's bridge back where it belongs.
13:08Back on top.
13:10The crane comes down, but the bridge refuses to budge.
13:15Ashik watches a nightmare unfold.
13:18Plan A crumbles just as they're losing light.
13:21Yeah, very stressed.
13:22I know I'm stressed now.
13:24So if you'll excuse me, I gotta go and check on them first, huh?
13:31I'm gonna change the lifting arrangement.
13:34Ashik gambles on a different way to rig the move.
13:37Plan B creaks slowly over the deck.
13:40The bridge holds the Pioneer's navigation equipment.
13:43If his plan fails, Ashik will have a lot to answer for.
13:50One week into the Pioneer's makeover, she is slowly taking shape.
13:55Captain Jarle is on walkabout.
13:57He has grand plans for his new home.
14:00My office, my cabin will be in here through this small hole.
14:04So hopefully we'll manage to have a bigger door sometimes.
14:06Come on, let's have a look.
14:08Most likely there will be an office desk here so you can face the door.
14:13I'd like to see who's coming in.
14:15Put a small group over here, maybe with a good chair to relax.
14:20A TV, some music.
14:22And then there will be a sleeping compartment and a small bathroom in here.
14:26And this is, it's okay.
14:29It's not that big, but it's okay.
14:31The Pioneer is now ready for phase two of her makeover.
14:35The machinery needed to transform her into a working rig is about to come on board.
14:43Work on the Pioneer began 10,000 kilometers away in a Norwegian lab.
14:49Under the expert eye of the floating rig designers, a prototype is rigorously tested.
14:55The model test is one of the first tasks in the design process.
14:59And it includes approximately 40 different test conditions.
15:05Today they will turn a quiet tank into Hurricane Alley.
15:11As oil fields are being discovered in deep and dangerous waters, floating rigs are engineered to survive not just gale force winds, but freak waves over seven meters high.
15:23Every toss and turn is closely monitored.
15:28The readings could show up weaknesses in hull design or force a rethink of the amount of oil a ship can safely carry.
15:35With a floating rig, an oil field could take seven years to get from discovery to the day it pumps its first barrel.
15:47That's two years faster than a standing rig.
15:51Water depth also poses no challenge to a floating rig.
15:54So in just four years, 2008 to 2012, 95 new floating rigs are expected to join the world's fleet.
16:04Back in Singapore, the Pioneer team tries to keep both their dream and schedule alive.
16:10It's four months since the Pioneer arrived at Capital Shipyard.
16:14The nips and tucks to her aging hull are nearly finished.
16:17Now it's time to start transforming her from an old oil tanker to a high-tech rig.
16:25A huge hole over 17 meters wide is cut across the Pioneer's deck and through her body.
16:33This is where a special turret will fit in.
16:36The crucial point where oil pipelines will enter the ship.
16:39A complex system of swivels inside the turret will keep it stationary, even when the ship rolls with the wind and waves.
16:48It's vital the turret doesn't move.
16:50If it does, the pipelines inside could tangle, and even worse, snap.
16:5680,000 barrels of oil will gush through the turret each day.
17:00Any leak of explosive fuel were it to happen would take place here.
17:07And the consequences could be devastating.
17:12In the summer of 1988, a gas leak on the Piper Alpha oil rig ignited a fireball which killed 167 crewmen.
17:23Only 59 survived the explosion.
17:25The Piper Alpha remains the worst accident in deep-sea oil exploration.
17:31Its effects have been felt on rig designs ever since.
17:35Twenty years after the Piper Alpha tragedy, work on the Pioneer's turret begins with the construction of a protective shield.
17:44It is the skeleton that holds the turret's equipment in place.
17:49It has also been designed to contain an explosion.
17:52It is, quite simply, an iron-clad fire insurance policy.
17:59Ashik's job today is to get the shield in place so they can begin building the turret inside it.
18:10The shield was made in Indonesia, and the scaffolds which secured it during its journey to the shipyard are the first to go.
18:17On the Pioneer, the last tweaks to the shield's new home need to be made.
18:24The team rushes to finish before the floating crane returns for another visit to lift it into place.
18:31The shield left the shipyard in Indonesia some days ago.
18:38Its journey here has been delayed by bad weather.
18:41So, to keep the schedule from slipping, Ashik and his team have been called back over the weekend to orchestrate this mega-move.
18:49The arrival of the shield is a major milestone in the Pioneer's makeover.
19:03So, even though it's Sunday, everyone arrives to watch.
19:06The arrival of the shield is a major milestone in the Pioneer's makeover.
19:12So, even though it's Sunday, everyone arrives to watch.
19:17So, even though it's Sunday, everyone arrives to watch.
19:26So far, so good. The lift from the budge went quite well.
19:30The final, the final, you see somebody is calling me now.
19:33The shield seems to glide into place without a problem.
19:43But it will be many more hours before the team knows that it fits for sure.
19:48Below deck is a hive of activity.
19:52The shield is in, but Ashik needs to position it precisely before it can be welded into place.
19:58Finally, eight hours after they began, Ashik sends the cranes home.
20:05They've done it. The shield is finally in place.
20:10And after a whole day shouting out instructions, this is all Ashik has to say.
20:15It's now Christmas, but Captain Yarla and the makeover team have no plans to go home.
20:29Work never stops on tanker makeovers.
20:32With high oil prices, every day at sea can be worth millions of dollars.
20:38So, to keep their project on track, the team is used to long stretches away from home.
20:43It's a lifestyle that you actually have to get used to.
20:47And you also need a family, an understanding family back home that allows you to do it,
20:52to stay away from nearly 200 days a year.
21:00Less than an hour from the Singapore shipyard, another team has also worked through the holidays
21:05on a vital part of the pioneers' equipment.
21:14This yard on the Indonesian island of Batam makes the technology that allows a floating rig to be sent to dangerous waters and yet not get battered by storms.
21:24It's a technology that gives it the edge over a standing rig.
21:31Technically, it's called a buoy.
21:33But the guys call it their yellow baby.
21:36It's the baby which makes the Pioneer so special.
21:39It sits at the bottom of the turret and the oil pipelines pass through it.
21:46If the Pioneer finds itself in the path of a hurricane, it can cut loose the baby and pipelines and sail to safety.
21:56The baby will sink 60 meters under the sea.
21:59When the storm passes, the Pioneer will return and pick it up again.
22:05And when the hurricane has passed, FSO goes back, picks up the turret, pulls it in, lock it in position, connect everything and resume production.
22:16Today, the team is shipping the baby to the Gulf of Mexico to be connected to the oil wells so it's ready for the Pioneer's arrival.
22:23But on the day it's due to depart, the mighty baby, built to fight a hurricane, gets held up by a storm.
22:31And the wind is picking up, so now we have a meeting to decide if we are lifting or not today.
22:36It'll take a day before the winds and currents drop enough to allow the crane to pick it up and send it on its way.
22:57When the Pioneer and the baby are united in the Gulf, they will go down in history.
23:08Not all floating rigs are built with a buoy. None have been designed to abandon them as often as the Pioneer.
23:15Then again, this will be the first floating rig in the treacherous waters of the Gulf of Mexico, so the team isn't taking any chances.
23:23The 1,000-ton baby is carefully secured on a specially constructed cradle for the long journey ahead.
23:41They cross the Pacific Ocean, then pass through the Panama Canal.
23:46Finally, after travelling halfway around the world, the baby arrives at the exact spot the Pioneer will drop anchor.
24:05Half an hour more, and we are ready to lift up the heavy lift boy.
24:09They finally get rid of that yellow baby, as we call it. We call it the baby.
24:15This oil field in the Gulf of Mexico was discovered seven years ago.
24:20A field with a total harvest of perhaps a billion barrels is nowhere near the largest around.
24:27It's not even enough oil to last the world for three weeks.
24:31But today, oil companies have little choice, so they invest millions in technologies like the baby to mine even oil fields like this.
24:48The baby is sent down to be hooked up to the oil well 2.6 kilometers below the surface.
24:54Every step of its descent is carefully guided by remote submarines.
25:00When the Pioneer eventually arrives, all she has to do is winch up the baby and lock it in place.
25:07The oil will start flowing, and once a week, a shuttle tanker will call by to empty the Pioneer of its cargo.
25:14Back on the Pioneer, the winch that will pull the baby up into the ship isn't working.
25:31What's the temperature?
25:33And without the buoy, the Pioneer is useless.
25:37We have an issue with the shackles.
25:39We have to stop the operation now.
25:44It's five months since the Pioneer arrived in Singapore for a makeover to transform her into a floating oil rig,
25:52able to tap oil in deep and deadly seas.
25:59A shipyard can be a dangerous place as well.
26:02Sharp beams, dizzying heights.
26:05So once a week, despite their hectic schedule, the Pioneer team down tools to hear some important safety announcements.
26:14The next line is going to SCS Kapol, Chandrajit Kumar.
26:19Today, awards are given to the safest workers.
26:22And for the safest of them all, a shiny new bicycle.
26:26Workers for safety, do you?
26:28Yes!
26:30Thank you, everyone!
26:34The team has now worked over a million man-hours,
26:36and the Pioneer is ready to enter another phase of her transformation.
26:44But a million man-hours with no major accidents calls for a celebration.
26:49It's an achievement worth commemorating.
26:52So there's a special lunch for everyone on board today.
26:54But work never stops for long at a shipyard.
26:59Not when the project is about to enter another phase.
27:03A team of engineers have worked on the technology that will run the Pioneer.
27:09Now they're ready to take center stage.
27:12Tom Ringstad is an old hand at tanker makeovers.
27:18Today, he's going to check the machines which will process the oil the Pioneer will pump from the Gulf.
27:24The machines will be fitted like a jigsaw on the Pioneer's deck.
27:35There are 12 of these giants, and getting them on board is Tom's job.
27:42It will be a logistical nightmare.
27:47At one end is a massive generator to power the rig.
27:50In the middle is the separator, which takes crude oil into its tanks and separates out the impurities.
27:58In the high-pressure separators, oil is separated from the gas and the water.
28:06The gas is on the top, the oil in the middle, and the water in the bottom.
28:11Using the forces of gravity to its advantage, the separator can clean an astounding 80,000 barrels a day.
28:17Gravity and high pressure will force gas to rise to the top.
28:24Water and sand will sink to the bottom of the tank.
28:27In the middle is what the engineers are really after.
28:32Black gold.
28:34Oil is pumped to the cargo tanks below.
28:37They're built to hold 600,000 barrels, enough oil to keep the American economy going for just 50 minutes.
28:51Back on the Pioneer, the team rushes to strengthen the deck to hold the weight of the new machines.
28:56Without extra support, they will crash through the deck, sending the Pioneer right back to square one.
29:05This area you see is currently being cleared for the arrival of module 10A and 10B.
29:1110A and 10B are the two halves of the separator that will weigh 43 tons.
29:19What you see here is a piece of steel plate, a thicker plate that we are supposed to install in the tank,
29:25meant to reinforce the deck area for the module supports that are supposed to arrive.
29:30With the supports in place, it's now time to haul the machines on board.
29:39It's the day of the big move.
29:42The separator is the first to go.
29:44Once again, the Pioneer receives a visit from a floating crane.
29:48And it's not just any old crane.
29:51The Asian Hercules is one of the largest in the world.
29:54It can lift over 3,000 tons.
29:59The separator is child's place.
30:01On the next level of the Crew.
30:05The uniform is the same way.
30:07On the next level of the Crew.
30:09The Equal Number Five.
30:11The Equal Number Five.
30:14Like a gigantic jigsaw, the machines have been designed to fit snugly on deck.
30:26There's no room for error.
30:28Months of work hinges on this move.
30:29any miscalculation could send the project into meltdown.
30:34So when the separator swings in, precisely as planned,
30:38Tom breathes a huge sigh of relief.
30:41It's a lot of challenges. Every day is different.
30:44You never know what's going to do the next day.
30:47Stay cool, be happy, and yeah, enjoy the life.
30:53Now comes the hard part.
30:59There's just one spot left for the generator.
31:03The generator is the heaviest piece of equipment the team will haul on board.
31:08So they move it on a Sunday when the yard is quieter and there are less distractions.
31:14All mines are focused on the morning ahead.
31:17Once again, safety is a main priority.
31:20You guys understand? Don't rush everywhere, okay?
31:24Thank you very much, all the guys.
31:26With the Pioneer's deck rapidly filling up, squeezing in the generator is going to be a tricky operation.
31:34There's no room for error.
31:36Ashik thinks he has it all planned out.
31:39Right now, we have already made all the preparations of the levels and the angles.
31:44So that when the module arrives, it will sit very nicely.
31:48The worst thing that can happen, I don't want to jinx it.
31:52I don't think I want to sit right now.
31:54Maybe off the camera.
31:56As the generator descends, a wind whips up, swaying the generator as it enters a very tight spot.
32:04But Ashik spots something far more troubling.
32:08One edge of the generator sticks out further than it should.
32:11This isn't in the plans.
32:13OK, the cable tray is sticking out. Any issue?
32:19All hell breaks loose.
32:22The radio goes into overdrive.
32:25The corner won't fit.
32:27The cable tray should be removed.
32:29My guide is located here, but it never means terminal.
32:31When it lowers down, it will hit the green piece of the angle bar over there.
32:361,300 tons of steel, all held up by a piece just a bit out of place.
32:49The workers spring into action.
32:51They have to cut a corner, quite literally.
32:54An hour passes before the stubborn piece finally comes down.
32:58Ashik breathes a huge sigh of relief.
33:01He won't have to send the generator back.
33:04No, it has never happened before, and I will never let it happen.
33:09And that's considered as disastrous.
33:14As the generator is welded into place, work shifts to the dock.
33:21The front of the Pioneer is getting some cosmetic surgery.
33:25A second skin is being grafted on.
33:29The bulk of the Pioneer was built with a double hull, but a single hull up front leaves her fuel tanks vulnerable.
33:38This second layer will protect her tanks from accidents or rough weather.
33:44It will hold back 600,000 barrels of oil from leaking into the sea and prevent an environmental disaster.
33:54November 2002.
33:57The Prestige, a tanker carrying 77,000 tons of oil, splits in two off the coast of Spain.
34:05It leaves an oil slick eight kilometers long.
34:09More than 1,000 beaches are devastated.
34:12Driving the European Union to ban all single hull vessels.
34:18Back in Singapore, they're preparing to install a helideck at the back of the Pioneer.
34:26Project Manager Jamil is hard at work on the designs.
34:30There's been a change of plans.
34:33The helideck we have designed based on the owner's original specification.
34:38That means the helideck should be positioned somewhere in the centerline of the vessel.
34:43But midway through construction, the plan changed.
34:46They have to move the entire helideck off-center.
34:50Now this helideck will shift to stubble side, 4.6 meters.
34:55It's a knock-on effect of a specification change to other equipment on board.
35:00I didn't fail.
35:02This is a bread and butter of a combustion vessel,
35:06where every day we leave such things, you know.
35:09It's a design, redesign, rework.
35:12It's now a year into the makeover, and the day for the Pioneer's departure is rapidly approaching.
35:25The helipad is ready.
35:27It will be the entry point for crews changing shift.
35:31Or the lifeline for emergency supplies.
35:34Now there are just little things left to do.
35:37Little, that is, by the standards of the Pioneer.
35:41The floating crane makes its final visit to haul in the flare tower.
35:46This will be the tallest point of the ship.
35:50And with good reason.
35:52It will burn off excess gas safely above the explosive oil below.
35:58With the flare tower in place,
36:09the team gets to work to spruce up the Pioneer for a lavish christening party.
36:18But tomorrow, they'll take a break to pop the champagne.
36:27They've invited the who's who on the day they named the Pioneer.
36:31Not just the bosses, but their bosses too.
36:34I'm naming my baby today.
36:36I'm happy, you know, I'm always happy.
36:46I name you BW Pioneer.
36:48The guests make a beeline for the stunning views the new helipad offers.
37:00There are smiles all around.
37:03After a few last nips and tucks,
37:05she should be ready to sail to the gulf in four weeks.
37:09The engineers work is nearly done.
37:20And there's just enough time for one last get-together.
37:23Before heading home, they hit the town in style for a well-earned celebration.
37:36Start the rotation work, five weeks on and five weeks off.
37:40And I'm looking forward to that.
37:42I've done your five weeks.
37:44You can go home and you have five weeks absolutely rest.
37:48You can have some good time off and waiting for the next project.
37:59It's four weeks since the grand unveiling.
38:02The ship is a construction yard again.
38:05Scaffolding brought down for the naming ceremony is back up.
38:10The pioneers should be on its way to the gulf any day.
38:20And the team has been given a deadline to sail in just ten days.
38:25It's make or break time.
38:27And now we are doing our management work about
38:31since vessel is going to sail in ten days' time.
38:33We'll be talking about one item to remove and one item to stay.
38:40But the reality on deck is that there are a million things to do.
38:48Even the turret that will pump in the oil isn't ready yet.
38:52We are actually building a excess way.
38:56It's the turret.
38:57Inside the turret, kilometers of pipes and cables are still coming together.
39:02At least Ashik has nearly finished work on the tanks below,
39:07which will hold the money-making cargo.
39:10Tomorrow we are closing out this tank for final inspection.
39:15So I have to go and make sure that everything is AOK before the surveyor comes.
39:20It's not going to be a very comfortable environment to be in.
39:24Inside the cabin block, there's good news too.
39:30The control room, the captain's command center, is finally up and running.
39:36This room we call the CCR or the central control room.
39:40And from this room we monitor the whole operation.
39:44The deck, the turret, the temperature of the oil, every detail is monitored here.
39:50We can drag all these small pictures up to a big picture to get a better view.
39:55So if somebody is wearing glasses like me, we can actually see this in a bigger view
40:00and get a better overview.
40:02From his new control room, the captain keeps a sharp eye on the tests taking place on the ship's equipment.
40:09On this one now, I'm doing the test now on the M90.
40:13The M90, the Pioneer's massive generator, will be fired up today.
40:18All the machines have to be tested before the Pioneer sets sail.
40:22But the tests have not been going smoothly.
40:25I'm going to start the turbine tree, OK?
40:27OK, copy, copy, proceed.
40:30OK, copy that.
40:31OK, turbine started.
40:33The team tried to run the generator yesterday, but it didn't work.
40:38Every finger is tightly crossed for the second attempt.
40:42Take two. Nothing.
40:54The generator will be the Pioneer's main source of power when she's anchored in the Gulf.
40:59If it doesn't work, the ship is as good as sunk.
41:03The engineers scramble to save the day.
41:06They suspect a wiring fault, but no one knows for sure.
41:10I think there was some tripping. Tripping a lump. Not firing up.
41:15After an hour of frantic fine-tuning, they decide to give it one last shot.
41:20It's closing, damper is closing.
41:22It's closing, damper is closing.
41:25Ah, all the other.
41:27It's third time lucky. Much to everyone's relief.
41:34Is that one up and running now, or...?
41:36Yeah, the test is OK.
41:38With the generator up and running, there's one less thing on the captain's to-do list.
41:46To make that two, at least his cabin is looking ship-shaped.
41:50OK, this is my office and glass cabin.
41:56Last time we were here, it was only steel and cables, as far as I remember.
42:00And this is my workplace.
42:02Here I spend a lot of time doing all the administration.
42:07Then I need a good chair.
42:10This is where I am.
42:12Meanwhile, outside the captain's cabin,
42:15final preparations are made for the pioneer's departure.
42:19It's bits and pieces now.
42:21We don't have too many major activities now.
42:24It's most time-consuming.
42:28We have a lot of jobs that, say, maybe it's 99, 99 and a half percent.
42:33So it's the final touch-up, and then we just can sign off and hand over for testing.
42:40But the captain could never guess that another crisis is about to erupt.
42:45When she's anchored in the Gulf, this winch and cable will pull in the Pioneer's all-important yellow buoy.
42:51Her baby, and with it, the pipelines carrying the oil.
42:56The baby is ready and waiting in the Gulf.
42:59So the plan today is simulate the baby's 1,000-ton load and stress test the winch that pulls the cable.
43:06All they need is a simple shackle for the test to begin.
43:10It's our biggest winch pull ever.
43:13This has a direct impact on the sail away on the ship.
43:21But when the shackle arrives, it's the wrong size.
43:25We have an issue with the shackles supplied by our contractor for this job.
43:32Everything's on hold until Hans can find another shackle.
43:38Four tense hours pass before a new one finally arrives.
43:42With the stress test slipping behind schedule, Hans checks that the measurements add up for himself.
44:01It's late evening before the new shackle is primed for the test.
44:05The team has been on their feet since early morning, but the pressure to meet the deadline forces everyone to keep going.
44:28Hans piles on the pressure, adding 100 tons every few minutes.
44:36The pressure gauge climbs.
44:39300.
44:40500.
44:41Slowly, they coax the winch toward its maximum load.
44:46What's the temperature?
44:4720 minutes into the test, the winch and cable are stretched to the breaking point.
44:52But they're holding.
44:54So Hans gives the final order.
44:57They crank the pressure right up to the max.
44:59The cable holds, but the winch that pulls the cable doesn't.
45:06We have to stop the operation now.
45:08We hit 70 tons, 75 tons.
45:17So we're wrapping up for tonight and we continue tomorrow to investigate what we're going to do further.
45:23It's close to midnight when Hans and his team reluctantly call it quits.
45:30They know one thing for sure.
45:33The Pioneer isn't going anywhere tomorrow.
45:35The Pioneer's makeover team has spent over 15 long months turning an aging tanker into a state-of-the-art floating oil rig.
45:49Finally, the news everyone wants to hear.
45:53Attention, attention, all personnel, this is the captain speaking.
45:59As the vessel is soon to depart Captain's shipyard, I request all personnel not scheduled to be on board for the voyage to the anchorage to depart the vessel now.
46:11The last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster.
46:15The team has worked around the clock so the Pioneer can start her incredible voyage.
46:20Her makeover journey has been no less incredible.
46:26In over 15 months, she has been designed to push the limits of engineering.
46:31The machines on deck have all been tested and are ready to process the oil the Pioneer will pump from the Gulf.
46:41Even the troublesome winch has finally pulled its weight.
46:44And at long last, Hans can afford to smile.
46:50They'll still be working on the turret during their 55-day journey to the Gulf of Mexico.
46:56The makeover is almost complete, but the last few bandages still need removing.
47:01But they're ready where it really matters.
47:05A team of cooks has arrived to man the all-important galley.
47:10They have their work cut out, catering for the tastes of the multinational crew.
47:14We have everything on the menu that satisfies everybody.
47:20You know, because we have an Indian menu, which has a biryani.
47:26We have got some Filipino dishes like noodles.
47:29And then we have some of the Norwegian dishes also.
47:33The crew will be on board on five-week shifts.
47:35So a trip to the mess is dining out and a quiet night in.
47:42Fantastic, very good.
47:43Good cook.
47:45Good menu.
47:55The floating rig is finally ready and the crew is in place.
47:59Captain Jarla Christiansen is ready for the next stage of the adventure.
48:03It's going through my mind.
48:08Let's get the gangway on the lines off so we can move.
48:11That's going through my mind.
48:13For the next seven years, Jarla will be at the forefront of oil exploration as he takes the pioneer to deep and dangerous waters.
48:23We have people stand by forward for the anchor.
48:26I can't go home every day anymore.
48:28You are here 24-7.
48:2924-7.
48:34Someone else in the team is also having a life-changing moment.
48:40After more than a year, Ashik may finally get to spend some time with the other lady in his life.
48:46Basically, I'm not married yet, but I do have someone.
48:53And she's, of course, always complaining.
48:56I'm sure she knows who she is.
48:59And after the stressful deadlines of the past few weeks, few are as relieved or nostalgic as the engineers.
49:09I've been working on this project for three years now, so it's a lot of, well, it's a lot of me in this ship.
49:16It's a relief and it's a bit sad, a bit sad.
49:19More than a ship, more than a rig, the pioneer is an engineering marvel.
49:28She limped into Keppel's shipyard, a tanker at the end of her days.
49:31She leaves, reborn, ready to sail into danger as she goes deeper than any rig on Earth.
49:40J-алосьly, it is a good 12-11 shipyard is a big dream.
49:46It's a good dream.
49:49It's a good dream.
49:50It's a good dream.
49:52It's a good dream.
49:54I'm sure you have fun.
49:56Before you go, let's go.
50:00Let's go.
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