The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 14, 2026
Filed:
Sep. 30, 2021
Applicant:
Chevron U.s.a. Inc., San Ramon, CA (US);
Inventors:
Wei MA, Houston, TX (US);
Fei Yang, Houston, TX (US);
Jack Darryl Payne, Spring, TX (US);
Peter Leitch, Houston, TX (US);
Renjian Roger Lu, Houston, TX (US);
Tao Wang, Katy, TX (US);
Jon Husby, Houston, TX (US);
Erling Storaune, Houston, TX (US);
Assignee:
CHEVRON U.S.A. INC., San Ramon, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B63B 35/44 (2006.01); B63B 1/10 (2006.01); B63B 43/14 (2006.01); B63B 1/12 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B63B 35/44 (2013.01); B63B 1/107 (2013.01); B63B 43/14 (2013.01); B63B 2001/128 (2013.01);
Abstract
A tank is secured under the keel of a floating structure for offshore energy development. The tank is filled with ballast material that supplements or replaces the ballast already present on the floating structure, thereby gaining larger topsides payload capacity for the floating structure or increasing stability and motion performance of the floating structure.