Sulzer Pumps has built a prototype injection pump that generates the highest seawater injection pressure ever achieved. The contract was awarded by bp for the ‘Thunder Horse’ project, which is part of the bp Deepwater Development Program in the Gulf of Mexico. The water will be injected at a flow rate of 338 cubic meters an hour (1458 US gpm) at a pressure of 605 bar (8515 psi).

The pump has 12 stages arranged 6+6 in a back-to-back configuration, with the pump running at 6,000 rpm driven by a 9,700 kW (13,000 bhp) motor and gearbox. The pump is a development of the existing Sulzer high-pressure barrel casing pump range, type HPcp. Previous landmarks for this pump range include the world’s largest onshore, offshore and vertical injection pumps.

The prototype pump was subjected to extensive mechanical testing at the Sulzer facility in Leeds, England. This included testing the pump in its ‘end-of-life’ condition, with running clearances that are twice those of a new pump. Following the satisfactory completion of these tests, three complete additional pump units have now been ordered and in addition the prototype pump is being converted into an operational pump unit.

Delivery of the four units is scheduled for March 2003.