Other

Technip France

Brown & Root, Inc.

Cso Aker Maritime, Inc.

Phillip Andrew Abbott

Larry Rayner Russell

Qi Xu

Pierre-Armand Thomas

John E Halkyard

Graham J Blight

Heinz K Rohde

Jerome Q Burns

Stephane Alain Le Guennec

Colin Hough

A floating moored oilfield production structure for deepwater application. An apparatus and a method for the construction and installation of floating oilfield production structures, wherein the deck structure is supported by multiple pairs of inclined buoyant legs which in turn support a subsurface damping plate structure for reducing the motions of the platform. The structure initially is initially constructed in a first configuration in relatively shallow water and then towed to a deepwater location where it is reconfigured to its operational configuration. The major structural components are joined by selectably operable pin connections.

Inclined leg floating production platform with a damper plate

An extendable draft platform, having a deck and buoyancy columns installed in leg wells in the deck for vertical movement from a raised position to a submerged position, includes a connection arrangement for securing the columns to the deck when the columns are in the submerged position. In the connection arrangement, a plurality of first guide elements near the top of each column is engageable by a plurality of complementary second guide elements secured to the deck around each leg well when the column is lowered to its submerged position. A locking mechanism is operable between the columns and the deck when the first guide elements are engaged with the second guide elements. The first and second guide elements may be configured so that the connection between the deck and the columns may be enhanced by over-ballasting the columns and/or by welding the columns to the deck.

Deck-to-column connection for extendable draft platform

Deploying an offshore oil and gas production platform comprises placing a buoyant equipment deck on a buoyant pontoon so that elongated legs on the pontoon, each comprising a buoyant float, extend movably through respective openings in the deck. Chains extending from winches on the deck are reeved through fairleads on the pontoon and connected back to the deck. The chains are tightened to secure the deck to the pontoon for conjoint movement to an offshore location. The chains are loosened and the pontoon and leg floats ballasted so that the pontoon and leg floats sink below the floating deck. The chains are then re-tightened until pawls on the leg floats engage the deck. The buoyancy of at least one of the pontoon and leg floats is increased so that the deck is thereby raised above the surface of the water. The chains are connected to mooring lines around an offshore well site, and the raised deck and submerged pontoon are maintained in a selected position over the site with the winches.

Offshore deployment of extendable draft platforms

A heave suppressed, floating offshore drilling and production platform comprises vertical columns, lateral trusses connecting adjacent columns, a deep-submerged horizontal plate supported from the bottom of the columns by vertical truss legs, and a topside deck supported by the columns. The lateral trusses connect adjacent columns near their lower end to enchance the structural intergrity of the platform. During the launch of the platform and towing in relatively shallow water, the truss legs are stowed in shafts within each column, and the plate is carried just below the lower ends of the columns. After the platform has been floated to the deep water drilling and production site, the truss legs are lowered from the column shafts to lower the plate to a deep draft for reducing the effect of wave forces and to provide heave and vertical motion resistance to the platform. Water in the column shafts is then removed for buoyantly lifting the platform so that the deck is at the desired elevation above the water surface.

Heave suppressed offshore drilling and production platform and method of installation

A connector is provided for removably attaching a space frame to the hull of a floating offshore platform. The connector comprises a socket attached to the hull of the platform. The socket has an open bore therein. A stabbing member is attached to the space frame. The stabbing member has a lower end insertable into the socket. An expandable locking ring is carried by the lower end of the stabbing member. The locking ring comprises a plurality of ring segments for removably seating within the socket bore. A backup ring is slidable along the stabbing member. The backup ring removably mates to the locking ring.

High capacity nonconcentric structural connectors and method of use

Methods and apparatus for offshore operations including individually significant aspects comprising:

Method and apparatus for installing integrated deck structure and

An elongated deck section having two rows of legs with several legs per row is fabricated with the legs hingedly mounted on footings adapted to receive fluid bearings and is transported from the fabricating yard to a dock head over a smooth concrete slab of minimal slope and thence longitudinally via fluid bearing adapted gang planks and tracks onto and along a barge disposed with its stern adjacent the dock head and grounded thereat, the platform being transported by placing fluid bearings under the footings which allow the section to be moved sideways, lengthways, or rotated or turned, as desired, the deck's horizontal truss stresses and the fluid bearing loads being controlled by actuating fluid elevators between each leg and the fluid bearing thereunder, the barge being initially ballasted so that change of ballast during loading is unnecessary to maintain minimal slope of the barge, the section then being anchored to the barge and the barge reballasted to float its stern and trim the barge preparatory to towing it to sea for installation of the deck section on an offshore tower as part of an offshore platform.

Deck section loading

An apparatus and method of assisting the driving of a hollow pile into soil by electro-osmosis in which electrical direct current is directed downwardly through the inside of the pile, out the bottom of the pile, and up the outside of the pile whereby water on the inside of the pile moves through the soil thereby making the pile easier to drive into the soil. The method includes insulating an electrically conductive pile preferably on the inside with an electrical non-conductor and placing water inside of the hollow pile. An electrical circuit having a d-c power source, and an anode and cathode is provided in which the anode is placed in the water inside of the hollow pile and the cathode is placed outside of the hollow pile and in electrical communication with the outside of the electrical conductive pile whereby an electrical circuit is formed between the anode and cathode through the water in the inside of the pile and through the bottom of the pile. When electrical power is supplied to the circuit, water will move down the inside of the pile and up the outside of the pile and into the soil adjacent the pile making the pile easier to drive through the soil. In addition, after the pile has been driven, the current flow may be reversed through the electrical circuit for reducing the water content of the soil adjacent the pile thereby increasing the load bearing strength of the soil.

Growing community of inventors

Katy, TX, United States of America

Phillip Andrew Abbott