Patent ID: 7690434

Claim:
An offshore vessel mooring and riser inboarding system, the system comprising: a first mooring element located in an offshore environment and coupled to a fluid flow riser, the mooring element defining an internal passage for receiving the riser; a connector assembly comprising: a cantilever support mounted on a vessel; a second mooring element suspended from the cantilever support and which can be connected to the first mooring element, to thereby suspend the first mooring element from the cantilever support; an outer gimbal member mounted for rotation relative to the cantilever support; an inner gimbal member mounted within and for rotation relative to the outer gimbal member; and a rotatable coupling for facilitating rotation of the inner gimbal member relative to the first mooring element; a transfer flowline adapted to be coupled to the fluid flow riser; and a swivel, the transfer flowline coupled to the fluid flow riser through the swivel; wherein, in use: the first and second mooring elements are connected to facilitate coupling of the fluid flow riser and the transfer flowline; the outer gimbal member, the inner gimbal member and the rotatable coupling together permit relative rotation between the vessel and the first mooring element about three mutually perpendicular axes of rotation; the fluid flow riser ascends through the internal passage in the first mooring element, through the rotatable coupling and the inner and outer gimbal members to the swivel; and the rotatable coupling and the swivel facilitate unlimited rotation of the vessel about a longitudinal axis of the first mooring element while maintaining fluid flow.