The 24-day testing campaign, managed by Norwegian energy giant Statoil, compared a eight-metre-diameter model of the new-look concept – a bucket-shaped foundation base that is sunk into the seabed and leveled using hundreds of built-in water jets – with a smaller "reference" suction anchor during 28 installations in a range of seabed soils.

"The structures were successfully installed and retrieved in some of the most challenging soil conditions experienced by the participating developers," says UF project manager Lars Kjuul Kristensen.

"The