Claims
- 1. An offshore arrangement comprising,
a shuttle tanker, a submerged flowline termination buoy positioned in proximity to said shuttle tanker, said flowline termination buoy being coupled to the sea floor by mooring legs, a pipeline extending from a hydrocarbon storage facility to a position in proximity to said submerged flowline termination buoy, a submerged connection assembly supported by said flowline termination buoy and connecting an end of said pipeline to a flexible hose, and means for selectively fluidly connecting said flexible hose to said shuttle tanker.
- 2. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein,
said flexible hose is a floating hose, and said arrangement further comprises,
a marker buoy coupled to said flexible hose by a swivel, whereby when said flexible hose is not connected to said shuttle tanker, said flexible hose is permitted to weathervane in response to environmental forces, and said marker buoy marks a submerged position of said flexible hose.
- 3. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein,
said shuttle tanker includes a dynamic positioning system for maintaining position when said flexible hose is selectively fluidly connected to said shuttle tanker.
- 4. An offshore arrangement comprising,
a dynamically positioned shuttle tanker, a submerged flowline termination buoy positioned in proximity to said dynamically positioned shuttle tanker, said flowline termination buoy being coupled to the sea floor by mooring legs, at least two pipelines extending from hydrocarbon storage facilities to positions in proximity to said submerged flowline termination buoy, a submerged connection assembly supported by said submerged flowline termination buoy, said connection assembly having fluid flow paths which fluidly connect ends of said at least two pipelines to first and second marine hoses, a single floating hose fluidly connected to said first and second marine hoses, and a connector which is arranged and designed to fluidly connect and disconnect said single floating hose to said dynamically positioned shuttle tanker.
- 5. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein,
said single floating hose is fluidly connected to said first and second marine hoses by a hose tee buoy.
- 6. The arrangement of claim 4 further comprising,
a marker buoy coupled to said single floating hose by a swivel, whereby when said single floating hose is not connected to said shuttle tanker, said floating hose is permitted to weathervane in response to environmental forces and said marker buoy marks a position of said floating hose.
- 7. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein,
said submerged connection assembly is supported from said submerged flowline termination buoy by a chain.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This non-provisional patent application claims priority from provisional application No. 60/332,774 filed Nov. 6, 2001.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60332774 |
Nov 2001 |
US |
|
60332782 |
Nov 2001 |
US |