Patent ID: 7823524

Claim:
A method for constructing a vessel ( 10 ) with hydrocarbon production storage and offloading capability and with drilling capability for drilling and/or workover of subsea wells, comprising: obtaining a FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) initial vessel ( 36 ) which has bow and stern hull sections ( 20 , 22 ), placing said initial vessel in a shipyard ( 40 ), and dividing the hull of said initial vessel into said bow and stern hull sections and separating said bow and stern hull sections to leave a shipyard space ( 44 ) between them; constructing a mid hull section ( 24 ) with front and rear ends ( 46 , 48 ), in said shipyard space between said initial vessel bow and stern hull sections; moving said initial vessel bow and stern hull sections respectively against said mid hull section front and rear ends and welding said bow and stern hull sections respectively to said mid hull section front and rear ends to produce a tandem-connected hull ( 49 ) containing said bow ( 20 ), mid ( 24 ) and stern ( 22 ) hull sections lying in tandem and welded together; after producing said tandem-connected hull, placing beams ( 55 , 57 ) that are longer than said mid hull section at opposite sides of said welded-together mid, bow, and stern hull sections and welding each of said beams to each of said hull sections.