Key points
- The Solwara 1 joint venture comprises Nautilus Minerals Inc. (85 per cent) and Eda Kopa (Solwara) Ltd. (15 per cent).
- Factory acceptance testing on the subsea slurry and lift pump (SSLP) has commenced at GE Oil and Gas’s manufacturing facility in Houston.
- The SSLP and riser system transfer mineralized material as slurry from the seafloor to the production support vessel, and return water is filtered to eight microns before being released back into the ocean.
- CEO Mike Johnston said Nautilus expects to take delivery of the pump later this year.
The Solwara 1 joint venture (comprising Nautilus Minerals Inc. (85 per cent) and Eda Kopa (Solwara) Ltd. (15 per cent)) has been advised that factory acceptance testing on the subsea slurry and lift pump has commenced at the GE Oil and Gas manufacturing facility in Houston.
Mike Johnston, Nautilus’s chief executive officer, commented: “The SSLP is a key element of the Solwara 1 joint venture’s seafloor production system, enabling us to transfer the mineralized material as a slurry from the seafloor to the production support vessel with no interaction with the overlying water column. We look forward to successfully completing FAT on the SSLP and taking delivery of the pump later this year.”
SSLP: what does it do?
The SSLP and riser system transfer the mineralized material as slurry from the deep ocean up onto the PSV, where the mineralized solids are removed. The return water is then filtered to eight microns, and transferred back down to the pump via the auxiliary riser pipes where it is released back into the same environment from which it originally came.
GE Oil & Gas produces positive displacement pumps like the SSLP for the offshore oil and gas industry, where among other things, they are used to help limit the environmental impacts of drill cuttings in deepwater drilling operations by helping recover the cuttings for eventual storage on land.
Nautilus is proud to have GE Oil & Gas as a key service provider to the Solwara 1 project.
