Patent ID: 8485116

Claim:
An oil production floating support including a disconnectable mooring system for anchor lines anchored to the sea bottom and for bottom-to-surface connection pipes, the floating support comprising: a mooring buoy for said anchor lines and first bottom-to-surface connection pipes extending from said buoy, to which they are moored, down to the bottom of the sea; a turret extending in a through cavity passing along the entire height of the hull of the floating support, said mooring buoy being fastened under the hull of the floating support to said turret, said turret co-operating with the hull within said through cavity passing along the entire height of the hull of the floating support, said turret being rotatably mounted relative to said hull via at least one rolling or friction bearing, so as 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 vertical axis ZZ′; and second connection pipes between the top ends of said first bottom-to-surface connection pipes and the deck of the floating support, the second pipes rising within the cavity to a coupling for a plurality of said second pipes, said coupling being secured to the floating support, said coupling being of the rotary joint coupling type and being rotatably mounted so as to allow said floating support to turn without turning said coupling; the turret further comprising: a watertight tubular outer structure about the vertical axis ZZ′, having a bottom wall assembled in watertight manner to the bottom end of said watertight tubular outer structure; said tubular outer structure containing an inner structure coaxial with said tubular outer structure, the top end of said inner structure being secured to the hull; said bottom wall of the watertight outer structure having a plurality of said first connection pipes passing therethrough in leaktight manner, said first connection pipes passing through and supported by said inner structure; said watertight outer structure not being supported by said hull nor being fastened to said hull, and having dimensions that enable it to float naturally in the water in the cavity in said floating support; said inner and outer tubular structures co-operating with at least one bottom rolling or friction bearing, allowing said inner structure to turn, said outer structure being prevented from turning when said floating support is caused to turn about said vertical axis ZZ′ of the cavity and of said watertight tubular outer structure; and said bottom rolling or friction bearing being situated below the surface of the water but inside said watertight outer structure.