Bechtel International Corporation

Thomas B Coull

Terrence L McGillivray

A jacket adapted to be mounted in an upright position in water depths in the range of 1000 to 1500 feet or more. The jacket has a number of spaced, generally parallel legs coupled together by braces, each leg being tubular to contain a plurality of sleeves and/or guides rigidly secured to the inner surface of the leg. Each sleeve has a tubular pile therewithin, the upper end of each pile being rigidly connected to the upper end of the sleeve, the piles extending downwardly through respective sleeves and into the sea bottom to provide a foundation for the jacket. Each pile serves as a compression spring to present tension-compression couples to withstand lateral forces during rocking motion of the upper end of the jacket relative to the lower end thereof. Each pile is further adapted to house a well for transfer of hydrocarbon or mineral products from the sea bottom to the platform on the upper end of the jacket. The legs have bulkheads to define air chambers to provide buoyancy to counteract vertical loads, such as the weight of the platform on the upper end of the jacket.

Compliant jacket for offshore drilling and production platform

A tower adapted to be mounted in an upright position in water depths in the range of 1200 to 2500 feet. The tower has a plurality of guy lines which extend outwardly and downwardly from the upper end of the tower to anchors in the sea bottom. The tower has a number of spaced, generally parallel legs coupled together by braces, each leg being tubular to contain a plurality of sleeves and guides rigidly secured to the inner surface of the leg. Each sleeve has a tubular pile therewithin, the upper end of each pile being rigidly connected to the upper end of the sleeve, the piles extending downwardly through respective sleeves and guides and into the sea bottom to provide a foundation for the tower. Each pile serves as a compression spring to present tension-compression couples to withstand lateral forces during rocking motion of the upper end of the tower relative to the lower end thereof. Each pile may further be adapted to house a well for transfer of hydrocarbon products from the sea bottom to the platform on the upper end of the tower. The legs have bulkheads to define air chambers to provide buoyancy to counteract vertical loads, such as the weight of the platform on the upper end of the tower.

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Hayward, CA, United States of America

Thomas B Coull