Patent ID: 7666044

Claim:
A method of supplying oil from a first floating structure to an offloading structure, comprising the steps of: providing a single flexible duct extending between the two structures at a water depth of between 50 m and 500 m, the duct comprising a flexible elastomeric material and having an internal diameter of at least 600 mm and a length of between 1,500 m and 3,000 m; providing at least one pump at the first structure and pumping the oil through the duct at a pressure between 5 bar and 30 bar and at a flow rate between 1,000 and 50,000 m 3 /hr, wherein providing a wall thickness of the duct such that at water temperatures between 2° C. and 20° C., the oil has at the first structure an inlet temperature T in and at the second structure an outlet temperature T 0 which is such that T in -T 0 is smaller than or equal to 15° C., end sections of the duct being situated above water level, the duct being situated in an upper half of a water depth, the duct arrangement being symmetrical with respect to a central vertical plane.