Subsea Intervention and Handling

The Buoy Pick Up is a modified subsea mooring connector operated without the need for an ROV to search for the buoy subsea. Instead the buoy is located by sonar from the FPSO and the ship manoeuvred above the top of the buoy, which is floating in mid water. The male subsea connector is lowered using the wire winch. 

It locates the female receptacle by means of a remote sensing Doppler TV camera in the nose. The male camera has integral lights and can find the female and report on the distance from a target in the nose of the female. The camera and target assists the operator to see when the male is fully docked within the female receptacle. In this way, the connector is acting as a ROV and does not require subsea intervention from other ROVs or divers.
 

 The FPSO in position over the turret buoy ready for buoy retrieval.

If abandonment of the buoy is required, to allow the FPSO to sail away, the subsea connector is again deployed as the abandonment device. 

The turret buoy is lowered to the mid water position and the male subsea connector is released from the female remotely by hydraulic actuators. These are activated either directly operated from the surface or from an ROV hot stab where there is a suitable ROV on location. The camera in the nose of the subsea connector confirms disconnection and provides a final view of the mid water buoy as the wire is winched into the moonpool.