Movable Cart Drilling Riser System for Offshore Well Bay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for drilling multiple wells from a floating offshore facility in deep water are time-consuming and costly, as they require frequent disconnection and reconnection of drilling risers and blowout preventers, or involve the use of multiple expensive equipment setups.
Innovation Solution
A floating offshore facility design featuring a well bay with multiple drilling and production slots, a movable cart system that supports drilling risers and blowout preventers, allowing for seamless repositioning of drilling equipment within the facility without full disconnection, and a tension assembly to maintain the drilling riser's tension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the drilling riser and blow out preventer device are disconnected and removed to install them at a second position, then the drilling rig can drill multiple wells separated by a predetermined maximum distance, but the operation takes a lot of time and is costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the drilling riser and blow out preventer device into a single integrated assembly that moves together as one unit. This merging eliminates the need for separate disconnection and reconnection operations at different well positions, significantly reducing operational time and cost while maintaining the ability to drill multiple wells at distant locations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a movable support structure (cart) as an intermediary carrier that holds both the drilling riser and blow out preventer device. This intermediary enables the entire assembly to be transported horizontally across the facility between different drilling positions without requiring disconnection, acting as a mediator that decouples the drilling equipment from fixed installation requirements
2Productivity
If the facility is equipped with two drilling risers and two blow out preventer devices, then multiple wells can be drilled simultaneously, but the equipment becomes costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static, fixed installation of drilling equipment into a dynamic, movable system. The drilling riser and blow out preventer device are mounted on a movable cart that can be repositioned horizontally across the facility, allowing a single equipment set to serve multiple well positions sequentially, thereby reducing the total number of equipment sets needed while maintaining high productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The movable support structure serves multiple functions: it acts as a carrier for the drilling riser and blow out preventer device, provides horizontal mobility between well positions, and enables a single equipment assembly to perform drilling operations at multiple locations. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for duplicate equipment sets
Data Source
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AI summary
A floating offshore facility (1) for offshore hydrocarbon production, comprising an upper deck (11), a lower deck (12), a well bay (13) comprising a plurality of drilling slots and a plurality of production slots surrounding said drilling slots, a cart (20) supporting a drilling riser (17) and being movable together with said drilling riser inside the opening of the plurality of the drilling slots, and a drilling rig (18) movable above the well bay to drill the well through the drilling riser.