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Specialised Pump Deployed in 'Prestige' Oil Recovery
01 Jun 2005
After the Prestige sank off Spain in November 2002, contaminating several hundred miles of coastline, it settled in 3,838m of water and continued to leak oil. Cracks in the hull were initially sealed by a submarine to prevent further contamination but a large quantity of heavy viscosity oil remained inside.
Last year, Reprol YPF, on behalf of the Spanish Government, awarded Italian sub-sea operators Sonsub a major contract for recovering this oil. Considering the depth of the oil, this was a highly complex task.
Developing and testing a technique involved using specialised vertical screw pumps by Ro-Clean Desmi which are notable for their viscous oil pumping capabilities. The pumps have been enhanced in recent years with a special technique that reduces the friction of the oil moving down the discharge hose, known as annular water injection.
Development and testing was carried out by Repsol YPF and Sonsub utilising Desmi DOP-250 pumps, leading to the selection of this pump to do the actual job.
Sonsub devised and constructed specialised 300m 3shuttle containers that were sunk to the wreck. Once holes were drilled in the hull, the highly viscous oil was allowed to float into these containers, which were then floated to the surface.
A Desmi DOP-250 pump with annular water injection pumped the oil from the containers into waiting tankers, with a total of 13,450 tons recovered in this manner.
MJ Information No: 20742
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