Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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- The invention relates to off-shoxe oil field production equipment,
outfit or like rigging comprising off-shore platforms or the like.
Its main object is the provision of a number of arrangements to be
used together or separately with a view -to substantially cutting down the
investment;coæts and making fields payable or workable with small outpu-ts
or flow rate capacities.
It consists aocording to one of such arrangements to make use of a
production of platform in particular of the kind anchored or fastened onto
the ground of the sea bed or bottom of the drilling site and for instance
pivotally connested to a base member, such platform comprising an oil and
gas separator or like trap and being combined with a gas flare adapted to
be located at a suitable distance from the center line of the platform,
saia gas being carried by a floating support coming up into the wind or
orienting itself in the eye of the wind while being connected through at
least one articulated arm to a rotary element in particular a swivel or re-
volving head of the platform.
Another arrangement consists in connecting by means of an oil pipe-
line to a production platform in particular of the kind just referred to
herein above, a oombined storage and lading platform assembly having in
particular a base member anchored to the ground or the sea bed and forming
a storage tank and at least one articulated column on this base member,
which column is fitted with an equipment for loading oil tankers in p~r-
tioular of the type described, in US patent N 3 980 037 ~-p~r~'~po-
~ ~ in the name of the Applicant Company.
- ~ Said production column or tower may be associated with a number of
wells distributed ab~t~b~e m~b~ or also said wells may be drilled
from said base member, in combination with valve ana manifold systems en-
abling the crude oil to be carried along or conveyed towards the separator,
thence the oil released toward the storage and lading column or tower.
3 Apart from said arrangements the invention comprises some other con-
trivances or appliances which are used preferably at the same time and
which will be set forth the more explicitely hereinaf-ter.
~he invention is more particularly directed to some embodiments for
applying as well as to some embodiments for carrying out said arrangements
and it is more especially aiming in particular by way of new industrial
produots, at equipment of the kind referred to apply said arrangements as
well as at the special elements required for devising or making same and
installations or plants comprising such an equipment.
~he invention will be better understood and further objects, details,
4 characterizing features and advantages thereof will appear more clearly as
the following description proceeds with reference to the accompan~ing ~g~m-
matic drawings giv~ byway ofnon-~miting examples only illustrating several
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specific presently preferred embodiment~ of the invention and wherein ;
- ~igure 1 is a perspective diagrammatic view showing an oil produc-
tion plant or sy~tem de~igned aocording to the invention ;
- ~igures a and 3 separately ~how on a larger ~cale, the ~tructure
supporting the ga~ flare and forming part of said sy~tem in accordance
with the invention ;
- Figure 4 is a perspective view illustrating the base or bottom por-
tion of a production column or tower of the type ~hown in ~igure 1 accor-
ding to an alternative embodiment of the invention ;
- Figure 5 is a diagrammatic elevational view of a possible improved
embodiment of the invention ;
- ~igure 6 i3 a similar view of another alternative embodiment accor-
ding to the principle of the invention ;
- ~igure 7 i~ a view in a cross-3ection taken upon the line VII-VII
; of ~igure 6 ;
- ~igure 8 is a view similar to ~igure 6 but illu~trating the beha-
viour of the system in the swell ; and
- ~igure 9 i~ still another possible alternative embodiment of the
system according to the invention.
According to the invention and more especially to that one of its
applying embodiments as well as to tho~e of the embodiments of it~ various
parts which seem to be referred construction at present, it is intended
for instance to design or establish a plant or a ~ystem for the production,
storage and lading of oil products from the wells of an off-~hore or sub-
marine oil field and such a design should be carried out as follow~ or in
a similar manner.
Such a system should comprise ,
- a number of wells which are to be drilled from a movable derrick
platform or from a drilling ship or in any other fashion whatsoever such
wells being provided with their usual accessories and fitting~ such a~
protection casings, safety or rel`ief valves, storm choke~ etc. 7 their up-
per portion forming the well-head 3een at 1 in ~igure 1 ;
- a m.nifold device such a~ shown at 2 in combi.nation with ~et~ of
.~ valves and piping~ enabling produc-tions of the well~ to be collected or
gathered, whereas these valve~ may be accomodated or housed on the sea bed
or on the production column or tower to be described hereinafter ;
- the production tower proper whioh according to the most advantageous
embodiment con~ists of an articulated column 3, mount~d through a univer~al
cardan coupling 4 onto a base member 5 with ballast tanks 6 and at lea~t one
float:mea~s7 providing through the hydrostatic thrust for keeping a substan-
! tially vertical position, such a column being moreover provided with an oil
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~[)65624
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and gas separator arrangement or trap 8 fed with crude oil through a duo-t
9 and from whioh the orude oil is flowing out in purified or ~orubbed oon-
dition thr~ugh a duot 10 extending down -the oolumn for oonveying the sorub-
bed or purified orude oil or oil towards the ~torage and lading equipment;
- a gas flare 11 adapted to burn the gas flowing from the separator
and whioh preferably has the con~truc-tion described hereinafter;
- and the ~torage and lading equipment supplied by an oil pipe-line
12 followine or oontinuing the duct 10, whioh equipment consi~ts advanta-
- geously, on one hand, of a base 13 anohored to the ground or sea bottom
~0 and forming a storage tank of any size and, on the other hand, of a lading
platform carried advantageously out a~ an artioulated column or tower 14
pivotally conneoted through a universal cardan coupling at 21 to the base
and provided with means for mooring ships 15, said column inoluding in par-
tioular a swivel or revolving head 16 and a boom 17 adapted -to oarry the
lading line 18 aocording to the arrangements of ~S patent ~ 3 980 037 in
the name of the Applioant Company the whole assembly being of course com-
bined with pumps 19 and valves 20 for drawing at will oil from the ba~e-
tank 13 or for storing it thereinto.
Referring more particularly to the gas flare 11 it i~ carried out in
3uoh a manner aooording to one of the arrangements of the invention, tha-t
it is located at sea at a substantial diotance from the produotion oolumn
(for instanoe at100m to 200 m) while being oarried by a floating ~truoture
adapted to come up into the wind or to orient itself in the eye of the
wind, said ~truoture being oonneoted to a platform 80 as to be able to
turn around the latter, and for this purpose the platform oompri~e~ a swi-
vel or revolving head 22 to whioh i8 pivotally oonneoted~-a~ arm oonneoting
that head to said struoture.
~he floating struoture 23 oarrying the gas flare 11 at one end thereof
oon~ists advantageously of an assembly of generally ~quare, triangular or
other oross ~eotional oontour, consisting of ~uitably trus~ed or braoed
tubes, suoh a~ struoture being little sensitive to the eIIeots of the ~well. --~he ~truoture is oonneoted to the swivel head 22 by at least one arm 24 it-
~elf built up from tubes and pivotally bearing with its end~, respeotively,
on the one hand on the head 22 about a horizontal axi~ A-A and, on the
other hand, on the struoture 23 about another horizontal axis 13~ igure 2).
The ~izes of the tubes of the ~truoture 23 are designed 80 that the
water line is looated nearly half-way OI the height of the vertioal cro~s-
~eotion as shown in ~igure 3.
Said tubes may possibly be used for oonveying ga~ but it seem~ prefe-
rable on aooount o~~en~g g~8tou8e independent pipine~ suoh as 25 the end
of whioh towards the oolumn is oonnected to the outlet pipe from the sepa-
.
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rator by means of swivel or rotary joints diagrammatically shown
at 26, 27.
Such a structure undergoes from the sea, even in a case
` of storm substantially lower stresses than a normal ship. It
should be pointed out indeed that the oscillating motion of the
articulated column woùld be braked by the movements of this stru-
cture in the water and that it will result therefrom within the
connecting arm 24 and its pivotal connections, efforts or strains
will remain small whereas they could become very large if the
gas flare 11 had the shape and weight of a ship of the same length
(the expedient of using a support forming the hull of a ship being
however not discarded).
In Figure 4 has been shown an alternative embodiment
of the system wherein the well heads extend through the base 5 of
the production column and are secured thereto in the case where ~-
that base is of a large size (with for instance each side thereof `
measuring 50 m to 100 m).
In such a case, the base alone is installed first and
the wells are drilled at the sites or locations provided for that
purpose by means of a movable platform of known kind carrying a
drilling equipment or derrick and using the engineering process
of making directional wells in order to reach the full extent
or bulk of the oil pool.
Once the wells have been completed and provided with
their control members the articulated production column or tower
is installed and the oil collecting pipe-lines are connected be~
tween the base and the column.
The advantage of such an alterrative embodiment is
that it becomes possible by means of a simple and economical
equipment carried by the column to accomplish on the well heads
and inside thereof any maintenance works or operations that
could prove necessary.
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In this connection the column may comprise all serv-
icing means for controlling and possibly loading the well heads
and/or their accessories (valves etc).
Irrespective of the form of embodiment chosen, it is
possible, owing to the invention to carry out oil field produc-
tion equipment the operation of which is enough understandable
from the previous considerations so that any further description
thereof may be dispensed with, said equipment exhibiting with
respect to those of the type referred to already known or ex-
isting many advantages among which:
- the advantage of concentrating to the greatest pos-
sible extent the various essential parts on the platforms involved;
- the subsequent advantage of a cutting down the de-
sign or installation costs even for deep water platforms (in-
stalled at depths of 100 m to 200 m for instance); .
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1~65~
- the ad~antage of allowing to easily store the production of several
days when bad weather would prevent an oil tanker from carrying it away ;
the base member 13 of the production column or tower may exhibit a large
ætorage capacity ;
- and the advan-tage of providing for a better super~ision or monitoring
of the various parts of thewhole system.
Figures 5 to 9 in particular illustrate improvements made -to the gas
flare æystem.
According to the alternative embodiments shown, an oil field produc-
tion equipment with a gas flare associated with a sea-bed development or
working structure and carried by a floating or buoyant support iæ characte-
rized in that æaid floating or buoyant æuppor-t conæiætæ of at leaæt one
æubmerged float stopped by an emerging holding mast bearing said gas flare.
Moreover, the flare feeding æupply pipe-line wh~h iæ relatively long æinoe
æaid gas flare æhould be located rather far away from æ~d sea-bed d~e]opment
ætructure iæ ætiffened or strengthened by a lattice beam or ~ like trussed
girder or framework alongside of which it is secured in order to provide a
substantially horizontal emerging arm pivotally connected to said working
ætructure and held above water level by æaid holding maæt.
More æpecifically, ~igureæ 5 to 9 æhow one part of an oil field pro-
duction equipment comprising in particular a æea-bed development or wor-
king struoture 111 and as gaæ flare 112 coupled to the working ætructure 111
and kept above water level by a floating or buoyant æupport 113 ¢onsisting
essentially acoording to the invention of a æubmerged float member 114 ætop-
pea by an emerging holding maæt 115 bearing the gaæ flare 112. ~he gasflare
112 is separated from the remainder ofa syætem by a heat æhield 116~ ~urther-
more the holding maæt 115 iæ conneoted to the æupply pipe-line 117 for the
- gaæ flare 112 and the major por-tion of thiæ pip~ne ~tendæ sub~ antially hori-
zontally and iæ pivotally connected (pivotal connection 118) to the working
structure 111. More æpecifically the pipe-line 117 iæ æecured alongside of
a beam or the like trusæed girder or framework 119 which stiffens or streng-
thens same ; the combination of said beam wi-th said pipe-line formæ an ap-
proximatively horizontal emerging arm 120 kept above water level by means
of the buoyant æupport 113 and determining the spacing between the gas
flare 112 and the working structure 111.
With -the expreææion "working struoture" is meant any production equip-
ment unit, outfit or like rigging to which the gaæ flare may be connected.
~huæ according to ~igures 5 and 9 the structure 111 appears as being a
platform æuch as a production platform whereas from ~igureæ 6 -to 8 it ap-
pears that the working ætructure 111 may conæiæ-t of a production and/or se-
parator column or tower, whereaæ the ætructure may be connected to the æea
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10656Z4
bed or bottom in etationary or pivoting relationship. In the caee of a
production and/or separation column the emerging a~m 120 is pivotally con-
nected to a revolving head 122 mounted in coaxial relation to the emerging
top portion of the column. Said working structure could also consist of a
ship such as for instance a tanker. ~he pipe-line 117 may oomprise several
gas carrying duct sections 117a, 117b (Figure 7) secured alongside -the
lattice beam 119 or being integral therewith. Moreover, said tattice beam
119 could be arranged (in a manner the showing of which is believed unne-
cessary) suitable for serving as a service footbridge or like gang-way be-
tween the working unit 111 and the gas flare 112. Now the various embodi-
ments according to the invention, for providing connection between the gas
flare 112 and the emerging arm 120 on the one hand and the buoyant support
113 on the other hand will be described.
As shown in particular in Figures 59 6 and 8 the holding mast 115
may be pivotally connected (pivotal connection 125) to the emerging arm
120. In suoh a case, it is necessary to provide a submerged arm 126 exten-
ding in substantially parallel relation to the arm 120 and pivotally
conneoted with both of its ends, respectively, to the working structure 111
(trough pivotal connection 127) and to said holding mast 115 (pivotal con-
nection 128).~hus,the`submerged arm 126 f~rms a kind of parallel-mo-tion
linkage or deformable parallelogram together with the emerging arm 120,
the holding mast 115 and a portion of the working structure 111. The sub-
merged arm 126 may however be omitted or dispensed with if the buoyant
support 113 is provided with a ballasting mass 130 located below the float
114 (~igure 5). It is of course also possible to combine together a bal-
lasting mass such as 130 and a submerged arm 126. In the case of Figures
6 to 8 where the working structure consists of a column the submerged arm
126 would be pivotally connected to a rotating ring 131 or like collar
rotatably mounted-about the column forming the working structure 111 while
being arranged in coaxial relation to the revolving head 122.
Figure 8 shows the behaviour of such a system under the action of
the swell in particular when the column forming the working structure 111
is connected to the sea bed through the agenoy of a pivotal connection
forming a universal cardan joint coupling as is well known in the prior
state of the art. When the working structure is tilting from the vertical
direction under the influence of the swell the parallel-motion linkage
or parallelogram defined he~inabove would deform itself thereby avoiding
giving rise to excessive stresses or strains while retai~ing the emerging
arm 120 and especially the gas flare 112 above water level.
Figure 9 shows another alternative embodiment wherein the holaing
maRt 115 may be rigidly connected to theemerging arm 120 and extends at
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right angles thereto (the pivotal connection 125 being omi-t-ted). Moreover,
there should be provided at least one lacing bax or like triangulation
element 134 forming a brace, strut or like stay member mounted in diago-
nally extending relationship between a point 135 of the emerging arm 120
preferably near the working structure 111 and the holding mast 115 in par-
ticular at a location adjacent to the float or buoyant member 114. ~he
assembly between the emerging arm 120, the holding mast 115 and the trian-
gulation element or lacing bar 134 may however also be effected by means
of pivotal connections, the triangular configuration thus achieved being
not deformable.
It should be pointed out tha-t the holding mast 115 may be as~embled
to the emerging arm 120 in extension of or in aligned registering relation-
ship with the gas flare 112 i.e. at one end of the emerging arm 120 as
shown in ~igures 5 and 9 but also and preferably at an intermediate point
thereof as clearly seen in Figures 6 to 8. ~hus the remaining portion 136
of the emerging arm 120 carrying the gas flare 112 is mounted as a canti-
lever framework in overhanging relationship with respect to the holding
mast 115 thereby enabling the construction of the beam 119 to be of redu-
ced weight. It should also be noted that the pivotal connections 118 and
127 in the case where the working structure is stationary and does not
include any rotary or swivel head preferably are of the ball-and-socket
joint type. Advantageously the pivotal connection 118 is hollow to form a
passage-way for the flow paths or travel of fluids or ducts such as 117a,
117b.
~ he gas flare arrangement connected to a working structure such as
just described according to the present invention is of a cost price sub-
stantially lower than any prior art system and in addition axhibits a very
high operating reliability to the extent where the gas flare 112 may be
located at a distanoe of more than hundred mz~rs away from the working
stru¢ture without the passage-way lines for the gases to be burnt contac-
ting the sea.
It is to be understood that the invention should not be construed as
limited to the embodiments of equipment just described since it comprises
any technical equivalents of the means provided if the latter are used
within the scope of the appended claims.
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