Amoco Corporation

Standard Oil Company (indiana)

The Standard Oil Company

Johnce E Hall

Pierre A Beynet

Hin Chiu

William D Greenfield

Samuel L Penny

Subsea template and method for using the same. A subsea template includes a plurality of gimballed joints for receiving piles therethrough which are anchored in the sea floor. Also included are a plurality of gimballed joints for receiving well conductors therethrough. A template is lowered to the sea floor. The piles and well casings are inserted into their associated gimballed joints from a substantially vertical axis and when finally positioned, are fixedly connected to the gimballed joint associated therewith thus obviating the need for leveling the template.

Subsea template and method for using the same

A flexible flowline support is disclosed, which can be connected to a subsea wellhead assembly preventing the flowline from being bent in too short of a radius. A flowline support base is connectable by way of guidelines to the subsea wellhead assembly and includes a flowline connector having a first end upwardly disposed and connected to the flowline support base and having a second end operatively connectable to the subsea wellhead assembly. A cradle assembly is mounted to the flowline support base adjacent the first end of the flowline connector and has an upper trough-like surface over which the flexible flowline can lay for connection to the first end of the flowline connector.

Flexible flowline connection to a subsea wellhead assembly

A terminator assembly is disclosed herein for use in mooring a floating structure to the floor of a body of water. A hawsepipe extends downwardly from adjacent an upper support on the floating structure and is supported by a lower support. Tension members utilized from mooring the floating structure extend downwardly from adjacent the upper support through the hawsepipe and a lower end of the tension member is adapted for connection to the floor of the body of water. A locking device is connected to an upper portion of each tension member for maintaining the tension member in tension by acting upon the upper portion of the hawsepipe to transfer the vertical loads through the hawsepipe to the lower support on the floating structure.

Terminator assembly for a floating structure

This invention involves a modification of the prior art subsea drilling system in which a carousel is positioned on a central post surrounded by a coaxial circular array of well slots and is adapted to be rotated by drill pipe through conventional means, from the floating platform. The carousel utilizes a fixed support platform spaced from the axis of rotation a distance equal to the radius of the array of well slots. The platform has its own well slot and a bearing concentric with the well slot. A well slot platform, or support post platform, is journaled in this bearing and supports a plurality of guide posts on a circle centered at the axis of the well slot. The support posts support cables hanging from the drilling vessel, which are used to guide the drill bit down from the surface to the carousel well slot. The carousel is adapted to revolve while supported by circular rails concentric with the central guide post. Means are provided, such as two gears of equal diameter, one fixed to the template concentric with the turning post, the other fixed to the well slot platform, with an intervening pinion so that as the carousel revolves in one direction by a selected angle, the well slot platform and support rods will rotate through an equal angle with respect to the carousel, in the reverse direction. Thus the guide posts and guide cables will always remain with the same azimuth as that of the drill ship. In this way the twisting and tangling of the support cables is avoided.

Carousel for vertically moored platform

This describes a method of performing operations in a well selected from a group or cluster of subsea wells which are produced through a production riser means to production facilities on a floating platform. There is provided a flexible workover riser on the platform which extends through a passage on the platform at a location remote from the moon pool for the production riser means. The flexible workover riser is run through said passage and guided into connection with the production tubing in the subsea well. Wireline or other well operations are then conducted through the connected flexible workover riser from the floating platform.

Flexible workover riser system

The riser pipe, e.g., 21 inches in diameter, extends from the ship to an anchored wellhead assembly on the ocean floor. A drill bit and drill string are guided down through the inside of the riser pipe and the anchored wellhead assembly to perform drilling operations in the ocean floor. Various strings of casing for lining the borehole wall, which is thus drilled, are run down through the interior of the riser pipe. The first string of casing run is of relatively large diameter, e.g., 20 inches in diameter followed by 133/8 or 103/4 strings. Intermediate strings are typically 95/8 or 75/8, depending on the previous string diameters. As heavier drilling muds are used, the riser tension needed to prevent buckling is increased. To reduce the tension required, we place a sleeve of low density in the annulus between the drill string and the riser pipe interior wall, leaving a much smaller annulus between the drill pipe and the insert, thus displacing the heavier mud with a lighter weight insert.

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Kingwood, TX, United States of America

Johnce E Hall