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California based solar Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technology company GlassPoint recently launched the world's first commercial solar EOR project in its home state.
The aging oil fields of Kern County in California have proved to be rich testing grounds for GlassPoint's technology which harnesses solar energy to generate steam from produced water from the oil field instead of the more conventional gas-powered steam generation method. GlassPoint claims that it can reduce EOR gas consumption by up to 80%.
The technology is a particuarly attractive proposition for oil fields in the Middle East where heavy oil is predominant and year-round sunshine abundant. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and Shell are actively testing various solar steam technologies for EOR.
Below are three videos that help describe the technology, the first is a time-lapse video showing the GlassPoint solar array tracking the sun throughout the day. The second video is a speech at the launch event by PDO's Corporate Technology advisor Dr. Syham Bentouati who also wrote a Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) paper on solar steam generation. The third video is a time-lapse video showing how GlassPoint's solar EOR technology can be set up in six weeks on an oil field site.
Let us know what you think of this technology, is it a viable option for helping oil production in the Middle East?
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