Feature 1 | RISERS AND MOORINGS
Sigma Offshore secure US patent for cost-saving Smart Mooring System
Sigma Offshore has secured a US patent for its Smart Mooring System (SMS) – a solution that is marketed as cost-effective and timesaving for floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units and other vessels which require both mooring and fluid loading/unloading in medium-deepwater depths.
T
he Aberdeen-based engineering consultancy has invested £4 million (US$6.16 million) to-date for the
development of the pioneering mooring and fluid transfer system for oil and gas production vessels. It claims that the US patent will represent a prelude to a major push for international growth. Te company expects to secure Canadian,
European and Chinese patents for its offshore vessel mooring and riser inboarding system from July 2010 through until August/ September 2010, while patents in other targeted areas, such as India, are likely to be secured by the end of the year. Te special bow-mounted turret of SMS
allows unlimited weathervaning. SMS can be installed during a conversion of a tanker to an FPSO or floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO) without the need to drydock the ship and without interfering with any work being undertaken on process equipment. The technology is a new and patented
application using field-proven components in a new method, thereby combining the benefits of established technology with a more economical installed cost. Te main challenges in the application of the new technology are the conservatism of the field developers and their wariness of any new ideas together with a full understanding of the interaction of the mooring components, FPSO and the SMS components, this understanding was facilitated by a series of model tests undertaken in Denmark. The SMS concept differs from other
mooring systems as it couples the use of a gimballing arrangement at the canister head with the protection of the risers through the splash zone, the arrangement allows unlimited weathervaning and uncouples the roll, pitch and yaw of the FPSO from the stresses and motions of the canister and risers. Te SMS product family includes three variants: all weather SMS, single riser SMS
24 Smart Mooring System from Sigma Offshore (Credit: Sigma Offshore Ltd).
and QCDC SMS. The single flowpath SMS is the simplest product family variant and is ideally suited to extended well test deployment where relatively frequent mooring and disconnection, for example
for relocation, is envisaged. The single riser SMS is used with a shuttle tanker. The QCDC SMS is the most complex of the family being both multipath and emergency disconnectable. Suitable for
Offshore Marine Technology 3rd Quarter 2010 Sigma Offshore’s Smart Mooring System for LNG operations (Credit: Sigma Offshore Ltd).
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