SYSTEM FOR CONNECTING BETWEEN RISERS OF COMPOSITE MATERIAL AND FLOWLINES, WHICH CAN BE USED WITH A HYBRID RISER, AND METHOD FOR CONSTRUCTING SAME

摘要

The present invention applies to the technical field of oil and gas exploration, being represented by a direct connection system, known as an LRTA_LowerRiser Termination Assembly_ (15), between risers (9) made from composite material and horizontal lines installed on the seabed (flowlines) 13. The developed system can be used with a hybrid riser (1), and the method for constructing same makes it possible, inter alia, to reduce costs and to optimize system assembly/installation time. The disclosed LRTA connection system (15), offers, as one of its main advantages, the fact that it can be used not only with rigid flowlines but also with flexible flowlines without the need for any section/equipment for making an intermediate connection between flowlines and risers. A further significant feature of the disclosed system is that the way in which it is constructed allows free vertical expansion of the risers over the entire structure. In addition to the advantages and technological advances achieved with the disclosed connection system, the method for constructing same is also seen to be innovative as compared with known, prior art systems. Although, in the prior art, conventional methods require a large area for assembly and construction, in the construction method developed for the present system the necessary area is significantly reduced, being approximately 10 times smaller than the extent required for known construction methods.