Cooling of the Heavy-Oil Trapped in the Reservoirs of the Sunk Oil Tanker Prestige Available to Purchase

The cooling down of hot heavy-oil trapped within the reservoirs of a sunk tanker has been theoretically analysed and numerically simulated. Using the best available oil properties, and approximating the initial and boundary conditions in a rational way, a two-dimensional case-study has been investigated by several research groups. The volume average temperature within the lateral tank reaches 10°C after three months, while it takes five months for the central reservoir. Grid refinement tests have been conducted. The pressure dependence of the oil viscosity might have an important effect on the cooling time.