A mooring arrangement between a floating storage body spread moored in deep water
and a shuttle tanker, the arrangement including a single point buoyant member that
is adapted for mooring a shuttle tanker in offloading position relative to a floating
production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with a link between the floating
storage body and the single point buoyant member. One embodiment (100) of
the invention employs a submerged yoke (30), having one end (31)
rotatably coupled to a FPSO (10) and a second end (32), supported
by a buoy. A mooring hawser (28) extends from the buoy to the shuttle tanker
and product hoses connect the shuttle tanker with the FPSO and extend along the
submerged yoke. In another embodiment, the mooring buoy is stationed by a hold-back
mooring system (303-304) and the FPSO or the tanker or both is provide with
traction device (308) to move the tanker into loading position with respect
to the FPSO. Other embodiments of the invention establish mooring of a shuttle
tanker so that it can weathervane 360 degrees during offloading activity. In another
embodiment, the mooring buoy (600) is provided with a dynamic positioning
system (614) for controlling shuttle tanker positioning with respect to
conditions of the environment or for moving the tanker to a desired position during loading.