In the context of hydrocarbon exploration and production in a subsea environment,during drilling and completion of the well a blowout preventer, BOP, is connected to the wellhead housing. The BOP is in turn coupled to the riser.Movement of the riser will be transferred to the BOP placing very high stress on the connection between the BOP and the wellhead housing. In a conventional conflguration, the load distribution between the BOP and the wellhead or XMAS tree connector is limited to a small contact area. Due to the small contact area and locall stress concentrations in the H4 profile, the fatigue capacity may not be sufficient for extended or repeated operations with a subsea BOP and Marine Riser connected to the well.
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