Flowline jumper for subsea well
AssigneesABB Vetco Gray Inc., ABB Offshore Systems Limited
InventorsGawain Langford, Francisco Dezen, Lars-Petter Sollie, Stephen P. Fenton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A subsea well system has a flowline jumper that extends between components on the sea floor. The jumper has connectors on each end for connecting to the two components. At least a portion of the jumper is buoyant and sufficiently flexible to cause it to assume a vertical arcuate configuration when installed. One end of the jumper has a connector that has a mandrel that guides into a mating socket formed on the end of an arm. The arm is mounted to a ring that can be rotated to various orientations.
Claims30
In a subsea well system having first and second components spaced laterally apart from each other a selected distance, the improvement comprising:
- a flowline having a length greater than the distance between the components;
- first and second connectors on opposite ends of the flowline that are connected to the first and second components, respectively;
- and
- at least a portion of the flowline being buoyant and sufficiently flexible to cause said portion of the flowline to assume a curved configuration.
In a subsea well system having a subsea production tree having a flowline coupling spaced laterally from a flowline coupling of a processing component, the improvement comprising:
- a flowline having a length greater than the distance between the flowline couplings of the tree and the component;
- connectors on opposite ends of the flowline connected to the couplings for flowing fluids between the tree and the component;
- and
- a buoyant jacket located on the flowline, the flowline being sufficiently flexible to cause at least a portion of the flowline to assume a vertical curved configuration.
A subsea well, comprising:
- a wellhead assembly having a production outlet;
- a ring carried by the wellhead assembly;
- an arm extending laterally from the ring;
- a coupling located adjacent the arm and formed on the end of the production outlet for connection to a flowline;
- and
- wherein the ring is selectively rotatable relative to the wellhead assembly to position the arm at a desired orientation.
A method of transmitting fluids between subsea first and second components that area separated laterally from each other, comprising:
- (a) providing a flowline with a length greater than the distance between the components;
- (b) on a lift line, lowering the flowline into the sea and connecting ends of the flowline to the first and second components;
- and
- (c) providing at least a portion of the flowline with sufficient buoyancy and flexibility to cause said portion of the flowline to assume a vertical arcuate configuration.
A method of connecting a subsea tree assembly to a second subsea component, comprising:
- (a) installing a wellhead housing on the sea bed;
- (b) placing a ring around the wellhead housing, the ring having an arm extending laterally from the wellhead housing;
- (c) with the assistance of an ROV, rotating the ring to point the arm in a desired direction after the wellhead housing has been installed on the sea bed;
- (d) landing a tree on the wellhead housing, the tree having a production outlet with a tree coupling that is aligned with the arm;
- (e) engaging a flowline connector of a flowline with the arm to support the flowline connector;
- then
- (f) connecting the flowline connector to the coupling of the production outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.