Retrieving fuel oil from the ocean's depths required testing new salvage technology

摘要

In the summer and fell of 2004, 14, 880 tons of heavy fuel oil were removed from the wreck of the tanker Prestige, lying at a depth of about 12,600 feet, about 135 miles off the coast of Spain. This operation marks the greatest depth at which oil has ever been removed from a wreck. Since oil had never been extracted from a wreck this deep, the techniques and tools had to be created by the companies involved: Repsol YPF, a Spanish oil company; Sonsub International BV, which performs subsea construction and repair for the oil and gas industries; and Sonsub's parent, Saipem S.p.a., a Milan-based oil company. The Spanish government spent about $130 million on this project.