A vessel adapted to perform subsea wellbore related operations involving a riser string that is assembled from releasably interconnected riser sections and extends between a subsea wellbore and the vessel. The riser string vertical handling system of the vessel includes a controlled motion device that is adapted to displace the riser string lifting tool in at least one horizontal direction relative to the riser spider device at least whilst travelling between the elevated and lowered position thereof loaded by the riser string suspended from the riser string lifting tool, thereby allowing to establish an inclined travel path with selectively variable inclination of the riser string lifting tool relative to an imaginary vertical line through the riser string passage of the riser spider device, e.g. said inclined travel path having an inclination selected to correspond to an actual water current induced inclination of an upper portion of the riser string during the riser string assembly process.

Techniques and systems to store and deploy a lift frame of an offshore vessel. A device may include a member arm comprising a locking feature configured to couple the member arm to a lift frame of the offshore vessel. The device may also include a base configured to be coupled to a drill floor of the offshore vessel, wherein the base comprises a joint configured to allow for rotation of the member arm and the lift frame from a storage position having a first angle between the member arm and the drill floor and a deployment position having a second angle between the member arm and the drill floor.

An apparatus is configured for undersea use, such as for penetrating a seabed for forming a borehole therein, including with optional data acquisition and logging capabilities. A first or base module (12) of the apparatus is adapted for engaging the seabed. A first elevator (16) provides longitudinal movement of a second or upper module (14) relative to the base module (12) along a drilling axis. The relative movement of the upper and base modules may be used in the course of independently moving first (18) and second (20) rotary units along the drilling axis to cause a drill rod (R) and a drill casing (C) to penetrate the seabed such that the collapse of the borehole is avoided.

A system includes a crate and a deployer. The crate is configured to contain a plurality of elongated rods; the crate has a length, width and height. The deployer includes a bed frame upper surface, a crate support frame, a tilt mechanism and a scope mechanism. The crate support frame includes an attachment mechanism configured for removable attachment of the crate, wherein the crate support frame has a longitudinal extent aligned with the length of an attached crate. The tilt mechanism is configured to move the crate support frame between a horizontal position parallel to the bed frame upper surface and a vertical position normal to the bed frame upper surface. The scope mechanism is configured to move the crate support frame linearly along its longitudinal extent. A method of deploying a plurality of rods to a selected location is also described.

A system includes a crate and a deployer. The crate is configured to contain a plurality of elongated rods; the crate has a length, width and height. The deployer includes a bed frame upper surface, a crate support frame, a tilt mechanism and a scope mechanism. The crate support frame includes an attachment mechanism configured for removable attachment of the crate, wherein the crate support frame has a longitudinal extent aligned with the length of an attached crate. The tilt mechanism is configured to move the crate support frame between a horizontal position parallel to the bed frame upper surface and a vertical position normal to the bed frame upper surface. The scope mechanism is configured to move the crate support frame linearly along its longitudinal extent. A method of deploying a plurality of rods to a selected location is also described.

The present invention relates to a method for operating a drilling vessel adapted to run large diameters surface casing joints having a diameter of over 20 inch (51 cm) and a length of 30-50 feet (9-15 meters), and build a surface casing string. According to the invention three or more surface casing joints are interconnected into pre-assembled surface casing stands having a length of over 100 feet (30 meters). These surface casing stands are substantially horizontally stored and transferred by a casing stand handling system to a surface casing string handling capacity hoisting device, which subsequently lowers the surface casing string.

A system for operation on a subsea well, the system comprising at least one storage unit configured to store tubulars; a subsea mast unit comprising at least two string handling devices configured to handle a tubular string of a plurality of connected tubulars, wherein at least one of the string handling devices is configured to move vertically relative to the other of the string handling devices, and is configured to add a vertical downforce to the tubular string; and at least one handling arrangement for moving tubulars between the at least one storage unit and one of the string handling devices simultaneously with handling of the tubular string by at least one of the string handling devices. A method of lowering a tubular string into a subsea well is also provided.

System for handling riser pipe on an offshore vessel comprising a lifting device for lifting the pipe from a storage zone onto the deck.

A vertical pipe handling system comprising a bellyboard with at least one automated guide for leading tubulars between the fingers of the bellyboard. A method to move a tubular on or above a rig floor comprising automatically moving the tubular with a racking system comprising a bellyboard with at least one automated guide for leading tubulars between the fingers of the bellyboard.

The invention is a land drilling rig (10) having a drilling mast (12), a top drive (14) movable in the drilling mast (12) along the vertical axis of the drilling mast (12), and a crown bearing (18) at an upper end (16) of the drilling mast (12), the crown bearing (18) being movable by means of a positioning device (24), and a method of operating such a drilling rig (10) and a method of operating a top drive (14) in the drilling mast (12) of such a drilling rig (10).