Solar Powered Technology Enhances Oil Recovery

mdsolar writes with this story of a company that uses solar energy to recover crude oil. Royal Dutch Shell has teamed with a sovereign investment fund from Oman to invest $53 million in a company that manufactures solar power equipment designed for increasing oil production. Glasspoint Solar Inc. installs aluminum mirrors near oil fields that concentrate solar radiation on insulated tubes containing water. The steam generated from heating the water is injected into oil fields to recover heavy crude oil. This concept of enhanced oil recovery. involves high pressure injection of hot fluids to recover heavy crude oil. The use of renewable energy like solar power makes great economic sense, as the fuel cost associated with this enhanced oil recovery technology is practically zero. Shell hopes to employ this technology in its oil fields in Oman. The company hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with enhanced oil recovery operations. A large-scale successful implementation of this technology could be a game changer for major consumers like India and the U.S.. Both have substantial oil reserves, but are unable to tap them due to high costs involved in heavy oil recovery.

Comments

I wonder if they could add geothermal.

[allaunjsilverfox2]

It'd be kind of interesting, extremely site specific. But still a interesting use case.

Re:I wonder if they could add geothermal.

[dbIII]

There's a "shallow" geothermal energy source under an oil basin in Australia but it's still a matter of drilling some pairs of expensive holes to use it. However it may be a more viable use than running power cables from a geothermal electricity generator on site than to a city close to a couple of thousand kilometres away.

Renewable

[lorinc]

Using renewable energy to tap unrenewable energy... Seems not really enduring. Why not just use directly the renewable energy in first place?

Re:Renewable

[mc6809e]

Using renewable energy to tap unrenewable energy... Seems not really enduring. Why not just use directly the renewable energy in first place?

Because oil isn't just used as energy, though it often is.

Petroleum is a miracle substance from the standpoint of its chemistry. It would be hard to imagine modern life without all the chemicals and materials petroleum makes possible.

Burning such a flexible, important substance as fuel is terribly foolish.

Re:Renewable

[Charliemopps]

Using renewable energy to tap unrenewable energy... Seems not really enduring. Why not just use directly the renewable energy in first place?

This reduces the carbon footprint of the Oil itself. Most people tend to forget that over half the CO2 released by oil is done prior to it ever getting into your gas tank. If we could make it carbon neutral up to that point we'd be making significant progress. This is a good thing no matter how you look at it.

Re:Renewable

[drfred79]

This is exactly how you sustain the development of renewable energy. Using it to lower the cost of oil drilling might come with innovations in renewable energy.

I don't know anyone against renewable energy. The problems I have with it are the government favoring it over a neutral policy and mandates forcing me to use it when it's not yet the least costly.

Re:Renewable

[tomhath]

Yup. Back in the 1970's the Shah of Iran said something along the lines of: "Oil is too valuable to burn".

Steam to extract oil that shouldn't be...

[mspohr]

This is a good example of greenwashing.
They're using solar steam generators to extract heavy crude oil and tar sands. This oil is difficult to extract and environmentally costly to refine.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...
"With present technology, the extraction and refining of heavy oils and oil sands generates as much as three times the total CO2 emissions compared to conventional oil."
This oil should probably be left in the ground.

Re:Steam to extract oil that shouldn't be...

[mspohr]

Thanks for this clear and reasonable reply.
Clearly you don't just stop the flow of fossil fuel without having a replacement source.
The credible way out of the problem of burning fossil fuels is to replace as many energy sources as possible with renewables (wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, etc.). This will cost money and there need to be strong market signals to accelerate the change. Something like a carbon tax with the proceeds going to develop renewable resources would work (for some value of $tax and $subsidy).
The problem is political (mainly in the US) where the corporations which count fossil fuels and fossil fuel infrastructure as "assets" are able to corrupt the political process to prevent the necessary incentives from being put in place. I fear that it is already too late since we are now experiencing the effects of climate change and it will get much worse going forward. However, any reduction in CO2 now will help in the future.

Irony is duly noted

[davydagger]

So let me get this straight, not only does the oil industry run on razor thin margins that they need subsidizing(its only wrong when solar does it), they need solar energy to help them get out their precious oil, and they are now suddenly worried about enviromental impact?

my sides, my sides.

Wait until global warming really kicks in

[jfdavis668]

I would have just waited for global warming to really kick in. The oil would be warm enough to extract without any added heat.

don't they already vent hydrocarbon gasses?

[bhlowe]

My understanding is that many oil wells vent large quantities of natural gas that are unprofitable to collect as a product, but could be used for on-site purposes. Solar panels are great if you have a ton of room, can keep them clean, and don't need continuous power, and want to appear "green." But for oil fields, using natural gas and processed fuels is the way to keep prices competitive.