US 7,921,919 B2Granted

Subsea well control system and method

AssigneeHorton Technologies, LLC

InventorEdward E. Horton, III

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Abstract

A system comprising a surface installation in position above a plurality of subsea wells disposed within the watch circle of the surface installation. A plurality of flowlines directly couple at least one of the plurality of subsea wells to the surface installation. A control station, a hydraulic power unit, and an injection unit are disposed on the surface installation. A distribution body is disposed on the seafloor and is coupled to each of the control station, hydraulic power unit, and the injection unit via one or more umbilicals. A first wellhead component is disposed on one of the subsea wells and is coupled to the distribution body via one or more flying leads that provide electrical, hydraulic, and fluid communication. A second wellhead component is disposed on another one of the subsea wells and coupled to the distribution body via one or more flying leads that provide electrical, hydraulic, and fluid communication. The control station is operable to provide control functions to the first and second wellhead components during drilling, workover, and production activities.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system comprising:

a surface installation in position above a plurality of subsea wells;
a mooring system that maintains said surface installation within a watch circle, wherein each of the plurality of subsea wells are disposed within the watch circle;
a plurality of flowlines, wherein each flowline directly couples one of the plurality of subsea wells to said surface installation;
a distribution body disposed on the seafloor;
a control station disposed on said surface installation and operable to provide electrical signals to said distribution body via an electrical umbilical disposed between said surface installation and said distribution body;
a hydraulic power unit disposed on said surface installation and operable to provide pressurized hydraulic fluid to said distribution body via a hydraulic umbilical disposed between said surface installation and said distribution body;
an injection unit disposed on said surface installation and operable to provide an injection fluid to said distribution body via an injection umbilical disposed between said surface installation and said distribution body;
a first wellhead component disposed on one of said subsea wells and coupled to said distribution body via one or more flying leads that provide electrical, hydraulic, and fluid communication between said distribution body and said first wellhead component;
and
a second wellhead component disposed on another one of said subsea wells and coupled to said distribution body via one or more flying leads that provide electrical, hydraulic, and fluid communication between said distribution body and said second wellhead component, wherein said control station is operable to provide control functions to said first and second wellhead components during drilling, workover, and production activities.

7 more elements

A subsea control system for control of a first subsea well and a second subsea well, the control system comprising:

a flowline directly disposed between each of the first and second subsea wells and a surface installation having a watch circle, wherein both the first and second subsea wells are disposed within the watch circle;
a distribution body disposed on the seafloor;
a control distributor disposed on said distribution body and in communication with a control station at the surface, wherein said control distributor comprises production function controls, drilling function controls, a first control output, and a second control output;
a first wellhead component coupled to the first subsea well and in communication with the first control output;
and
a second wellhead component coupled to the second subsea well and in communication with the second control output;
wherein said control distributor comprises an injection manifold selectable to provide, in a first state, fluid communication between said first wellhead component and the control station and to provide, in a second state, fluid communication between said second wellhead component and the control station.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.