# US 12,215,552 B2 · Polyvalent riser balcony

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- Number: US 12,215,552 B2
- Document ID: US12215552B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/029,498
- Filed: 2021-09-21
- Published: 2023-11-23
- Granted: 2025-02-04
- Earliest claimed: 2020-10-02
- Assignees: Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras
- Applicants: PetróLeo Brasileiro S.A.—Petrobras
- Inventors: Helvio Ferreira Da Silva; Marcelo Curzio Salomao; Osvaldo Roberto Do Vale; João Pedro Navarini
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12215552B2

## CPC

- E21B 19/004: {supporting a riser from a drilling or production platform}
- E21B 43/01: specially adapted for obtaining from underwater installations
- B63B 21/00: Tying-up; Shifting, towing, or pushing equipment; Anchoring ({of buoys B63B22/04;} dynamic anchoring B63H25/00 {; equipment for shipping on coasts, in harbours or on other fixed marine structures, e.g. for landing purposes, E02B})
- B63B 27/24: of pipe-lines
- B63B 2035/448: {Floating hydrocarbon production vessels, e.g. Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels [FPSO]}
- E21B: EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- B63B: SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING (arrangements of vessel ventilation, heating, cooling, or air-conditioning B63J2/00; floating substructures as supports of dredgers or soil-shifting machines E02F9/06)

## Abstract

The present invention addresses to the design of a Polyvalent Riser Balcony for an FPSO-type floating unit and the sequencing of the functions of the wells interconnected to the SPU in advance, even before the discovery of the field; consequently, without having the definition of the reservoir drainage plan and the subsea layout. The Polyvalent Riser Balcony can be applied to any development design for new offshore fields. The application of the invention will allow the anticipation of the FPSO production design, as well as its construction and assembly, with great value generation for the production development plans.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A polyvalent riser balcony of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit comprising:
a lower balcony extending along a length of a side of the FPSO, wherein the lower balcony comprises:
a first plurality of cells, each of the first plurality of cells comprising:
two injector slots;
two producer slots; and
a flexible slot configurable to be an injector slot or a producer slot; and
two exterior injector slots positioned adjacent the plurality of cells,
wherein each of the two injector slots, the two producer slots, and the flexible slot are connected to a riser of a plurality of risers, wherein each of the plurality of risers extends to the seafloor and is coupled to a well, and wherein at least one of the plurality of risers extends in a first direction under the FPSO and at least one of the plurality of risers extends in a second direction other than the first direction and away from the FPSO.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The polyvalent riser balcony of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of cells comprises a first cell positioned adjacent a second cell, a third cell positioned adjacent the second cell, a fourth cell positioned adjacent the third cell, and a fifth cell positioned adjacent the fourth cell, and wherein the two exterior injector slots are positioned adjacent the fifth cell.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The polyvalent riser balcony of claim 2, wherein each of the risers of cell three and the risers of the injector slots of cell four, extend in the first direction while the remaining risers extend in the second direction.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The balcony of claim 2, wherein the risers of the second cell, third cell, fourth cell, the injector slots of the fifth cell, and a producer slot of the first cell, extend in the first direction while the remaining risers extend in the second direction.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The balcony of claim 2, wherein the following risers extend in the first direction:
a productor slot of the first cell;
both injector slots, a productor slot, and a flexible slot of the second cell;
the flexible slot and a producer slot of the third cell;
both injection slots and a production slot of the fourth cell; and
both injection slots and a production slot of the fifth cell,
wherein the remaining risers extend in the second direction.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The balcony of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of risers is a rigid riser.

### Claim 7 (depends on 2)

The balcony of claim 2, wherein of the plurality of risers is a flexible riser.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The polyvalent riser balcony of claim 1, further comprising:
an upper balcony positioned above the lower balcony, the upper balcony comprising a second plurality of cells, each of the second plurality of cells comprising:
two injector slots;
two producer slots; and
a flexible slot configurable to be an injector slot or a producer slot; and
wherein the injector slots, producer slots, and flexible slot of the first plurality of cells in the lower balcony are arranged in the same position as the injector slots, producer slots, and flexible slots as the second plurality of cells in the upper balcony, and wherein the injector, producer and flexible slots of the first plurality of cells and the second plurality of cells are connected via risers, and wherein the risers extend from the lower balcony toward the seafloor.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The polyvalent riser balcony of claim 1, wherein the first direction is a starboard direction and the second direction is a port direction.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The polyvalent riser balcony of claim 1, further comprising a second lower balcony with a second plurality of cells extending along another side of the FPSO.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The polyvalent riser balcony of claim 1, wherein a configuration of the two injector slots, the two producer slots, and the flexible slot in each of the plurality of cells, including the direction of the risers is determined prior to connecting the two injector slots, the two producer slots, and the flexible slot to the plurality of risers based on a determined a subsea well layout.