PDO and Glasspoint to build 1 GW solar plant for enhanced oil recovery

MUSCAT – Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and GlassPoint Solar have announced plans to build one of the world’s largest solar plants.

Miraah (meaning mirror in Arabic) will be a 1,021 MW solar thermal facility in South Oman, harnessing the sun’s rays to produce steam. The steam will be used in thermal EOR to extract heavy and viscous oil at the Amal oilfield. Miraah will deliver the largest peak energy output of any solar plant in the world. The scope of this landmark project underscores the massive market for deploying solar in the oil and gas industry.

The plant will provide a sustainable solution for EOR steam, which is currently produced by burning natural gas. Once complete, Miraah will save 5.6 trillion British Thermal Units (BTUs) of natural gas each year, the amount of gas that could be used to provide residential electricity to 209,000 people in Oman.

At the contract signing ceremony in Muscat, Raoul Restucci, Managing Director of PDO, said: “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."

“The use of solar for oil recovery is a long-term strategic solution to develop PDO’s viscous oil portfolio and reduce consumption of valuable natural gas, which is needed elsewhere to diversify Oman’s economy and create economic growth. It also will displace diesel and higher carbon intensive power generation and oil burning in future thermal projects.

“PDO has been a pioneering force in EOR for a number of years and it will play an increasingly important part in the Company’s portfolio, accounting for around a third of our production by 2023.”

PDO has been working with GlassPoint since 2010 on a successful pilot scheme at Amal to test the commercial viability of solar steam which produced 50 tons of steam a day. The seven megawatt solar steam pilot will continue to operate at Amal alongside the full-scale development.

The project will break ground this year with steam generation from the first glasshouse module in 2017. Once complete, Miraah will deliver more energy to the customer than any other solar plant in the world. The project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by over 300,000 tons annually, the equivalent of taking 63,000 cars off the road.2

Rod MacGregor, President and CEO of GlassPoint Solar, said: “The oil and gas industry is the next major market for solar energy. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce heavy and viscous oil, with a typical oil field consuming the same amount of energy as a small city. PDO is the global leader in oil and gas innovation and the first to realise the value of using solar to replace traditional fuel sources to generate steam for EOR.”