Subsea deepwater petroleum fluid spill containment

Abstract

A subsea deepwater petroleum fluid spill containment device that can be quickly deployed to the site of a deepwater well blowout or similar eruption of petroleum fluids on or near the ocean floor to be sunk and positioned over the eruption, capture the petroleum fluid preventing it entering and polluting the environment, separate the constituents of oil, water and gas into disparate components subsea and inside of the collection device clean them, deliver the clean produced water to the subsea water and utilizing the hydraulic hydrostatic head pressure of the waters depth, if at least 4500 feet deep, deliver dewatered oil to surface storage with sufficient pressure to eliminate the need for mechanical pumping and the filtered gas at sufficient pressure for storage in a CNG container ship.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 398,008 filed Jun. 21, 2010 by the present inventor. I also petition for Accelerated Examination because of age. I hereby declare my DOB is Mar. 20, 1933BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to the capture and containment in deepwater, subsea, of oil, water and gas in the event of a well blowout, or other such subsea leakage, to prevent the entry of potentially contaminating fluids into the environment.[0004]2. Discussion of Prior Art[0005]Hammett U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,505 describes a type of method and apparatus that can be used to capture petroleum fluids erupting from a well blowout or similar petroleum leak subsea. Emphasis is placed on the placement of a device over the well that will capture fluids erupting from a blowout receiving the full flow of the fluids and delivering them as a mixture, together, to surface support equipment.[0006]...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a method and apparatus for collecting and containing petroleum fluids that are leaking from a deepwater well. This invention can prevent environmental contamination by quickly deploying the apparatus and commissioning it, and by separating the oil, water, and gas within the apparatus and cleaning them for return to the sea. The apparatus uses the hydrostatic head pressure of deepwater to surface containment vessels without the need for mechanical pumps. Overall, the invention provides an effective and efficient solution for collecting and processing petroleum fluids from deepwater wells.

Problems solved by technology

The lack of any functional method and apparatus of the type taught by my invention being presently available is evidenced by the disastrous amount of contamination that resulted from the blowout of the Macondo deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, April 2010, before the blowout could be contained by plugging, while, in the meantime, a vast amount of petroleum fluid erupted into the environment.

Further, even though a containment device, as taught by the aforementioned Hammett patent, was hurriedly fabricated, after the blowout had occurred, and deployed, it proved to be incapable of capturing and containing the erupting petroleum fluids.

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