Charles Ernest White
Engineering at Cherry Rdg Dr, Houston, TX

4669916, Jun 2, 1987

Mar 17, 1986

6/840235

Charles N. White - Houston TX
Andrew F. Hunter - Houston TX

Conoco Inc. - Ponca City OK

E02B 1700

405224

In a Tension Leg Platform, the common practice is to locate the well and anchor templates on the sea floor. This practice results in unequal lengths for the mooring elements which extend to the base of the floating structure and the well risers which extend to a well deck level which is elevated above the base of the floating structure. As a consequence, complicated tensioning systems having an extremely long stroke may be required for the well risers. The present invention provides for a well template which is elevated above the anchor templates at a level which equalizes the lengths of the mooring elements and the well risers. The well and anchor templates are constructed in a unitary structure to facilitate installation and assure proper spacing of the templates with respect to each other. In preferred embodiments of the invention, subsea storage is provided as well as curved conductors which facilitate angular deviation of the wellbores away from the template and J-tubes for the pull-in of subsea flowlines.

4784224, Nov 15, 1988

Nov 30, 1987

7/127351

Colin P. Leach - Houston TX
Charles N. White - Houston TX

Conoco Inc. - Ponca City OK

E21B 4301

166339

A casing guide apparatus includes a subsea well template having a well opening defined therein, and a cylindrical well casing received through the well opening. A casing guide bushing is operably asssociated with the template and the casing for permitting relative vertical movement between the template and the casing and for preventing relative lateral movement between the template and the casing at the well opening.

7257952, Aug 21, 2007

Sep 21, 2005

11/232347

William M. Bishop - Katy TX, US
Charles N. White - Houston TX, US
David J. Pemberton - Houston TX, US

EnerSea Transport LLC - Houston TX

F17C 3/08, F17C 11/00, B65B 1/20, B65B 31/00, A01G 25/09, B60P 3/22

62 451, 62 532, 62 461, 141 11, 53403, 1378992

The methods and apparatus for transporting compressed gas includes a gas storage system having a plurality of pipes connected by a manifold whereby the gas storage system is designed to operate in the range of the optimum compressibility factor for a given composition of gas. The pipe for the gas storage system is preferably large diameter pipe made of a high strength material whereby a low temperature is selected which can be withstood by the material of the pipe. Knowing the compressibility factor of the gas, the temperature, and the diameter of the pipe, the wall thickness of the pipe is calculated for the pressure range of the gas at the selected temperature. The gas storage system may either be modular or be part of the structure of a vehicle for transporting the gas. The gas storage system further includes enclosing the pipes in an enclosure having a nitrogen atmosphere. A displacement fluid may be used to offload the gas from the gas storage system.

5135327, Aug 4, 1992

May 2, 1991

7/695049

Charles N. White - Houston TX
Riley G. Goldsmith - Houston TX

Conoco Inc. - Ponca City OK

E02B 1700, B63B 3544

405224

A tension leg platform which can be a heave restrained platform and drilling system (HRP/DS) is taken to the heave restrained mode by rapidly sluicing ballast by gravitational force from a reservoir above the water line. More specifically, a tension leg platform (which has a floating structure floating on a body of water, tethers connected to the floor of the body of water at a locus beneath the floating structure, porches attached to the floating structure having tether receptacles for receiving upper terminations of the tethers, a large reservoir above the water line of the body of water to hold a large amount of liquid ballast above the water line of the body of water and a sluice for rapidly dumping the liquid ballast from the floating structure) is taken to the heave restrained mode by: ballasting down the floating structure with liquid ballast in the reservoir, positioning the floating structure above the locus of attachment of the tethers to the floor of the body of water, positioning the upper terminations of the tethers in the tether receptacles of the porches, and rapidly dumping and sluicing the liquid ballast from the floating structure such that tension is applied to the tethers in a rapid and continuously increasing manner.

4793738, Dec 27, 1988

Apr 16, 1987

7/040461

Charles N. White - Houston TX
Fikry R. Botros - Houston TX

Conoco Inc. - Ponca City OK

E02D 2100, B63B 3500

405224

A single leg tension leg platform is a semi-submersible structure moored at a deep water site by hybrid mooring consisting of a single tension leg or cluster of tendons attached to a central column and, optionally, a conventional spread mooring system. The central column is surrounded by peripheral stability buoyant columns symmetrically arranged and typically in number from about 3 to 8. All the vertical tendons are located in a tight cluster at the center of the platform. This means that the tendons no longer effectively restrain pitch/roll or yaw motion. The role of the tendon cluster is essentially the direct, stiff elastic restraint of heave and compliant restraint of horizontal offset. Pitch/roll response is controlled primarily by careful distribution of peripheral buoyancy and detuning.