Patent ID: 8449341
Filing Date: 2013-05-28
Classification: B63B

Abstract:
1. An oil production floating support, comprising: a hull; a deck; a mooring device for mooring anchor lines at the bottom of the sea and first bottom-to-surface connection pipes extending from said mooring device where they are moored down to the bottom of the sea, said mooring device comprising at least one annular mooring buoy, said mooring device being connected reversibly to a turret; and said turret comprising at least one watertight tubular structure having a bottom wall assembled in watertight manner to the bottom end of a tubular side wall of said watertight tubular structure, said turret extending in a through cavity passing within the hull of the floating support, said turret being rotatably mounted relative to said hull by means of at least one rolling or friction bearing to allow said floating support to turn about a substantially vertical axis ZZ′ of said turret and of said cavity without causing said mooring buoy to turn relative to the same vertical axis ZZ′; and second connection pipes between the top ends of said first bottom-to-surface connection pipes to which they are connected and the deck of the floating support, said second connection pipes passing through the bottom wall of the turret in watertight manner and rising within the cavity to a coupling for coupling a plurality of said second pipes, said coupling being secured to the floating support level with the deck of the floating support, said coupling being of a rotary joint coupling type, being rotatably mounted so as to allow said floating support to turn without turning said coupling, the bottom ends of said second connection pipes under said bottom wall of the turret being connected to the top ends of said first connection pipes by means of connectors co-operating with valves; wherein: said mooring device comprises two mooring buoys disposed coaxially one relative to the other and about the axis of the bottom wall of said turret, a first buoy being an annular buoy having said anchor lines moored thereto, and said annular first buoy including a central orifice containing a second mooring buoy having said first bottom-to-surface connection pipes moored thereto, said second mooring buoy having a top tubular wall within which said valves and connectors are situated at the top ends of said first connection pipes; and said floating support includes a connection/disconnection system for connecting/disconnecting said first and/or said second mooring buoy(s) respectively relative to said bottom wall of the turret, enabling each of said respective first or second mooring buoys to be connected/disconnected independently of the other, the connection/disconnection system comprising: H H Si is the area of the cross-section of said first chamber or of said second chamber respectively; and i=a for said first buoy and said first chamber and i=b for said second buoy and said second chamber.