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US 8,708,053 B2Granted
Riser installation from offshore floating production unit
AssigneeSingle Buoy Moorings Inc.
InventorsJack Pollack, David Riggs, Feng Guo
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSingle Buoy Moorings Inc.
InventorsJack Pollack, David Riggs, Feng Guo
Estimating the term…
A method for installing risers so they extend from a FPU (floating production unit) to multiple subsea hydrocarbon wells of an oil field, which avoids damage to the pipe sections and that is economical. As pipe sections are connected to a near end (56) of a pipe string portion (68B-68D) that lies at the FPU, a tug boat (30) pulls the far end (65) of the pipe string toward a well head. Initially, a long pull line (34) extends from a winch (32) on the tug boat, in a double catenary curve to the far end of the pipe string. The winch is operated to shorten the pull line until the pipe string extends in a double catenary curve (60). Tension in the pipe string is maintained at a proper level during installation by maintaining the near end portion of the pipe string so it extends at a near end angle (70) to the vertical that continually lies within a predetermined range, such as from 3° to 12°.
A method for installing a riser to extend between a FPU (floating production unit) and a well head lying at the sea floor, by connecting lengths of pipe sections in series while holding them primarily vertically at a side of said FPU and lowering the pipe sections into the sea, to create a pipe string which has a near end at said FPU and an opposite far end which is repeatedly lengthened, and when the far end of the pipe string portion lies in the vicinity of one of said well heads lowering said far end and connecting it to the well head, wherein said step of lengthening includes coupling said far end of said pipe string to a tug line on a tug boat and operating said tug boat to pull said far end forwardly away from said FPU while said pipe string portion extends from said FPU to said tug line of said tug boat, wherein:
A method for installing a riser to extend between a FPU (floating production unit) and a well head lying at the sea floor, by connecting lengths of pipe sections in series while holding them primarily vertically at a side of said FPU and lowering the pipe sections into the sea, to create a pipe string which has a near end at said FPU and an opposite far end and which is repeatedly lengthened, and when the far end of the pipe string lies in the vicinity of one of said well heads lowering said far end and connecting it to said one of said well heads, wherein said step of lengthening includes coupling said far end of said pipe string to a tug line on a tug boat and operating said tug boat to pull said far end forwardly away from said FPU while said pipe string extends from said FPU to said tug line of said tug boat, wherein:
A method for installing a riser to extend between a FPU (floating production unit) and a well head lying at the sea floor, by connecting lengths of pipe sections in series while holding them primarily vertically at a side of said FPU and lowering the pipe sections into the sea, to create a pipe string which has a near end at said FPU and an opposite far end and which is repeatedly lengthened, and when the far end of the pipe string lies in the vicinity of one of said well heads lowering said far end and connecting it to said one of said well heads, wherein said step of lengthening includes coupling said far end of said pipe string to a tug line on a tug boat and operating said tug boat to pull said far end forwardly away from said FPU while said pipe string extends in a catenary curve from said FPU to said tug line of said tug boat, wherein:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.