Solar Generated Steam for EOR | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
According to a recent article in “World Oil”, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), and Glass Point Solar plan to build one of the world’s largest solar power plants. The Miraah (meaning mirror in Arabic) project will produce 1,021 megawatts of electricity. This power will be used to generate steam for injection into the Amal field for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The solar project will eliminate the need for 5.6 trillion British Thermal Units of natural gas to produce the steam.
Raoul Restucci, Managing Director of PDO, stated “PDO is proud to lead the industry by deploying solar-powered oil production at an unprecedented scale and level of efficiency. The project will provide a significant portion of the steam demand at Amal and is an important part of PDO’s production plans.” He went on to say that PDO anticipates that EOR will account for a third of Oman’s production by 2023.
The decision to proceed with Miraah was largely based on the success of a pilot project by PDO and Glass Point Solar which began in 2010 and has produced 50 tons of steam per day. This 7 megawatt facility will continue operation even after Miraah comes on stream.
Construction of Miraah facilities will begin this year and the first module is expected to begin production in 2017. Once fully operational, Miraah will deliver more energy than any other solar plant in the world. This will reduce CO2 emissions by over 300,000 tons annually, the equivalent of taking 63,000 cars off the road.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to http://www.worldoil.com/news/2015/7/13/pdo-and-glasspoint-to-build-1-gw-solar-plant-for-enhanced-oil-recovery .
