Apparatus and method for isolating and securing an underwater oil wellhead and blowout preventer
OwnerWilliam Matthew Caldwellinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A drilling package for an offshore wellbore having a wellhead, said drilling package comprising in a functional order a shear module situated above said wellhead and in fluid communication with said wellbore; a blowout preventer in fluid communication with the shear module; a lower marine riser package in fluid communication with the blowout preventer; and a bypass valve and port in a normal fluid path upstream of a well closure device that is actuated to divert flow from the normal path through the blowout preventer to an alternative flow path.
Claims20
A drilling package includes a redundant, independently operable emergency fluid closure and a bypass module with an inlet connected to a well head and an outlet connected to the inlet of a complete, a blowout preventer stack that is connected directly or through a flexible joint or other conduit to the inlet of a marine riser or other conduit that transports the produced fluids to an intended destition, said closure and bypass module comprising:
- at least one well closure device that can physically close the fluid path from the wellhead to the inlet of said blowout preventer stack,
- a bypass valve and port in the normal fluid path upstream of the well closure device and that is actuated to divert flow from the normal path through the blowout preventer to an alternative, environmentally benign flow path to an intended destination;
- and
- controls for said closure and bypass module that make it operable independently from the normal marine riser or blowout preventer control umbilicus or package.
A drilling package for an offshore wellbore having a wellhead, said drilling package comprising:
- a shear module positioned above the wellhead and in fluid communication with the offshore wellbore;
- a blowout preventer in fluid communication with the shear module;
- a lower marine riser package in fluid communication with the blowout preventer;
- and
- a bypass valve and port in fluid communication with a well closure device configured to divert fluid flow from the blowout preventer to an alternative flow path.
A method for drilling a wellbore having a wellhead comprising:
- utilizing a drilling package, said drilling package comprising:
- a shear module situated above said wellhead and in fluid communication with said wellbore and a blowout preventer situated above and in fluid communication with said shear module.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.