Peak Oil is You
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Page added on December 10, 2015
Using solar power to drill for…oil?
Sitting on the southern edge of the Arabian peninsula, Oman is rich in fossil fuels — particularly natural gas, some 11.73 trillion cubic feet of it.
It might, then, come as a surprise to see greenhouses popping up in the country’s deserts.
GlassPoint Solar is a company looking to harness Oman’s abundant renewable energy – sunshine – to actually help the country produce more oil in a process called enhanced oil recovery, or EOR.
“The way the system works is that giant mirrors focus sunlight on to a pipe containing water,” Rod MacGregor, President and CEO of GlassPoint Solar, told CNBC’s Sustainable Energy.
“The heat from the concentrating sunlight boils the water to produce steam, (and) that steam can then be injected into an oil well,” MacGregor added.
“There’s a reason we want to inject steam into an oil well… the oil we are trying to produce is incredibly thick and viscous. The steam heats the oil up, the viscosity drops, and now it can be pumped more easily to the surface.”
One key benefit of the system is that it displaces the need for gas in the oil production process. “In a country like Oman over 20 percent of all of the country’s natural gas is used for oil production,” MacGregor said.
“You can imagine that if 80 percent of that was now provided by solar, then that gas could be used for much higher-value purposes,” he added. According to GlassPoint, its steam generators are able to produce steam at a “gas-equivalent cost of $5-$7 per MMBtu (one million British thermal units).”
GlassPoint’s innovation comes via its enclosed trough system. Thin, curved mirrors are placed inside a glasshouse, and track the sun during the day. According to the company, the glasshouse is crucial in protecting the mirrors from sand and dust as well as high winds.
“In our case, the mirrors are indoors, they are made of a material that is slightly thicker than tin foil and thinner than a Coke can and consequently are very inexpensive compared to a mirror that has to withstand the harsh environment outside,” MacGregor said.
The company has big plans. At the beginning of November, Petroleum Development Oman – which is joint owned by the Government of Oman, the Shell Group, Total and Partex – and GlassPoint announced that ground had been broken on a “landmark” solar project called Miraah – Arabic for mirror.
According to the company, the project will consist of 36 glasshouses covering some 3 kilometers square. On average, 6,000 metric tons of solar steam will be generated every day, and the plant will save 5.6 trillion British thermal units of natural gas annually. The plant is to cost $600 million.
MacGregor added that the company had big plans for the future. “The product was optimized for steam generation on an oil field and there are many consumers of steam in oil production. Enhanced oil recovery is the most obvious one, but it is not the only one,” he said.
“Power generation is an example, desalination… heater treaters, there’s any number of steam driven processes on an oil field that we can provide the steam for and hence reduce the fuel consumption.”
35 Comments on "Using solar power to drill for…oil?"
rockman on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:43 am
That’s nice. But it would make more economic sense if the KSA used some of the 130 BILLION CUBIC FEET of NG it flares every year for EOR as well as desalination. For that matter use it as a substitute for some of the significant amount of OIL THEY BURN FOR ELECTRICTY GENERATION.
Davy on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:58 am
We need to also consider solar thermal for Fuel, food and water. Desal in the right sweet spots is an excellent application. In regards to food we have thousands of grain bins that need heat and ventilation to keep stored crops from spoiling as an example. The above article is a good example of fuel applications.
We are close to dangerous economic decay. It will be our energy, food, and water systems that will have the most value in the near future. Will you care about more electricity to run you consumer electronics or would you like three meals a day and potable water? These are the kind of choices ahead. These discussions are considered fringe now by the cornucopian dominated social narrative. Any way we can strengthen our food, water and fuel systems will buy us some resiliency in a crisis.
makati1 on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 7:23 am
Solar is a band-aid that will pass along with the end of oil. Nothing more. An extender of personal electric for maybe 10-15 years after the oil stops, but not longer. More techie dreams without the consideration of systems.
twocats on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 10:19 am
Well conceivably the solar could be reconditioned for electrical production once the oil ran out. I’m assuming gas is flared in places where the infrastructure doesn’t exist to pipe it out? Aren’t those all business/ROI decisions?
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 10:47 am
“Well conceivably the solar could be reconditioned for electrical production once the oil ran out.”
Conceivably, what do you propose the electrical production be used for, once the energy source that fuels modern industrialism runs out? Most electrical appliances/gadgets have useful lifespans, and most have useful lifespans of less than two decades. Our economies are also completely dependant on an exponentially increasing source of cheap energy. Once economies of scale enter into steep decline, how do you propose that we pay for the industrialism that we no longer have an energy source to fuel?
Hello on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 12:23 pm
That is bad news for the generic doomer.
It will make oil with an EROEI < 1 possible. Violating the doomer EROEI axiom.
Lawfish1964 on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 12:33 pm
Sorry, Hello, but it doesn’t work like that. Just because the energy comes from the sky doesn’t make it free. Why would anyone use 5000 watts of electricity to obtain enough oil to produce 4000 watts of power?
Hello on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 12:54 pm
Law:
It’s because sunshine in the desert cannot be transported. So it’s much better to convert sunshine into oil even if the conversion is an energy sink.
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:00 pm
“So it’s much better to convert sunshine into oil even if the conversion is an energy sink.”
Makes about as much sense as arguing against gravity.
shortonoil on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:23 pm
“So it’s much better to convert sunshine into oil even if the conversion is an energy sink.”
Proofing that the computational, analytical skills of the Neolithic goat herder was greater than commonly assumed!
Hello on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:31 pm
I’d much rather have a quart of gas in my chainsaw right here where I need it than 1 MWh of sunshine in the desert half around the globe.
shortonoil:
If you don’t even understand the uselessness of EROEI how can I take your Matlab scripts seriously?
shortonoil on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:38 pm
“shortonoil:
If you don’t even understand the uselessness of EROEI how can I take your Matlab scripts seriously?”
Considering what you appear to be working with – YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB
Hello on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:53 pm
Thank you shortonoil. I know it’s difficult.
The majority of doomers don’t have a good grasp on things involving physics. And this eroei thing is certainly puzzling at first.
It’s easy to fall into the eroei trap, because it so nicely fits the doomer narrative.
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:54 pm
Geez Short,
Neolithic goat herders didn’t need chainsaws……..
Hello on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 3:59 pm
GregT:
I’m surprised that it’s so hard to understand.
What should I do to capture the sunshine in summer to be used in winter?
I certainly cannot pack it in boxes or bags, can I?
So I do the next best thing. I convert it into biodiesel which can be used in winter. Even though the conversion is eroei < 1 it's still beneficial, because it get's me the energy I need in the form I need at the time I need.
shortonoil on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 4:57 pm
“Neolithic goat herders didn’t need chainsaws……..”
Hope you’re happy, now we have to revise our entire hypothesis! But you must admit that idea sounds an awful lot like a stone age dissertation for a PhD in advanced rock pounding?
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 5:08 pm
Speaking of stone age fuctards, when is the quart shy of oil going to empirically quantify that it takes 48,000 Btu to refine a gallon of 140,000 Btu oil?
ghung on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 5:56 pm
Would that be Rockman oil or Marmitard oil?
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:07 pm
Still jerking off on the green house rutabagas, eh ghung.
The only thing Rockman knows is that he lives next door to a refinery. Yummy!
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:11 pm
“What should I do to capture the sunshine in summer to be used in winter?”
The same thing that humans did for tens of thousands of years in the past, and the same thing that any humans that make it through the bottleneck will do in the future.
I’ll give you a hint; It doesn’t involve the use of chainsaws.
apneaman on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:13 pm
marmico ya fuctard, when are you going to admit you’ve been wrong about everything? Everything is going in the opposite direction that you predicted fuctard.
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:23 pm
‘fraid nay, apie. The only prediction that I have made is that the 2015 ratio of gasoline spending to cash wages would be the lowest in 10 years.
It’s on schedule.
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 6:45 pm
“The only prediction that I have made is that the 2015 ratio of gasoline spending to cash wages would be the lowest in 10 years.”
Irrelevant, as has been pointed out to you repeatedly. Ad nauseam.
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 7:03 pm
Let me repeat: “Speaking of stone age fuctards, when is the quart shy of oil going to empirically quantify that it takes 48,000 Btu to refine a gallon of 140,000 Btu oil?”
It ain’t gonna happen.
The Oman solar shit is proof of principle. The U.S. Appalachia Marcellus shale has produced more natty gas in the last 3 years with 75 rigs than the Oman 11.7 trillion reserves.
And the Marcellus/Utica Appalachian formations will produce as much natty gas than the Oman reserves in the next 2 years.
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 7:31 pm
You are nothing more than a minor annoyance Marmi-noo, with an extremely nasty disposition. Just like a yappy little punting dog.
Woof-woof.
makati1 on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 7:32 pm
Guys, some on here make the village idiot of legend look like Einstein. Ignore them, I do for the most part except as entertainment. You know, like the clowns at the circus. It must be a real experience to be in their social circle.
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 7:40 pm
Hey, GreggieT. Your non sequiturs are becoming just as pervasive as Davy Green Acres flag waiving fuctardedness.
Let me repeat: “Speaking of stone age fuctards, when is the quart shy of oil going to empirically quantify that it takes 48,000 Btu to refine a gallon of 140,000 Btu oil?”
GregT on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 8:16 pm
Woof-woof.
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 8:23 pm
Well maybe you could counsel the quart shy of oil with primary school arithmetic.
After all you are a gentleman farmer and the quart shy of oil is a stone age Ph.D. candidate.
Let me woof woof: “Speaking of stone age fuctards, when is the quart shy of oil going to empirically quantify that it takes 48,000 Btu to refine a gallon of 140,000 Btu oil?”
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 8:36 pm
Oh, I forgot. No need to spend $59.99 (sometimes it’s on sale for $29.99) for the quart shy of oil magnus opus.
On page 48 it says:
One example is the EIA’s
estimate for petroleum refining energy costs, which they give as 16,300 BTU/$ of finished product. If
calculated at $3.00 per gallon for 2012, this produces 48,900 BTU/gal. Employing the BTU/$ method, the 2012 production energy costs at the
well head can be estimated at 14,735 BTU/gal. Distribution costs of raw material, and finished product
are estimated at $42/barrel, giving 6,365 BTU/gal. The extraction, processing and distribution energy
costs for 2012, when summed, equal 70,000 BTU/gal; which is what the ETP model predicts. It is
therefore concluded that the petroleum industry is operating at an efficiency level that is close to its
theoretical limit.”
http://www.thehillsgroup.org/petrohgv2.pdf
apneaman on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 8:47 pm
Notice how marmi has been reduced to nit picking on one little point? This is what happens to small men when every single argument they have been making for years is a FAILURE.
What a petty little loser. Go away loser.
marmico on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 8:56 pm
Nit picking from a dude that has posted at least 200 times on U.S. acreage burned by fires in 2015. You are caught up in some kind of dubbie smoke haze.
Let me woof woof: “Speaking of stone age fuctards, when is the quart shy of oil going to empirically quantify that it takes 48,000 [sic 48,900] Btu to refine a gallon of 140,000 Btu oil?”
It ain’t gonna happen.
Pete Bauer on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 9:12 pm
Sensible move.
They can build solar power to generate electricity as well as its a proven concept now.
This way Oil can be used just for exports.
So Oil is now riding piggy back on Solar. Ideally the Oman Oil Company should install solar photovoltaic panels on the rooftop of their headquarters.
Ted Wilson on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 9:24 pm
Past : Drill Baby Drill
Present : Drill Baby Solar
Future : Solar Baby Solar
makati1 on Thu, 10th Dec 2015 10:27 pm
Pete, they will be back to camels in another generation or less. Solar is not going to power their economy. It is also dependent on oil to exist.