California based GlassPoint Solar Inc said on Monday it had commissioned an oil recovery plant of 7-megawatts that is producing more than 50 metric tons of steam daily. The steam is injected into the oilfield at Amal in the southern part of Oman. GlassPoint Solar entered into the venture with Petroleum Development of Oman.
The completion of the solar plant, that is the first of its kind in the Middle East that produces steam that extracts crude from oilfields that are aged, will help to encourage further orders across the region from firms looking for the technology.
GlassPoint’s CEO said, they had spoken to every international and national oil firm in the Middle East about developing other similar plants and all of them said they wanted to see the outcome of the pilot plant in Oman.
Natural gas is the typical resource that is used to heat steam, but countries have started to consider the use of an alternative, said Macgregor. Oman uses over 22% of its entire output of natural gas to generate its needed steam to pump more oil out of its fields.
GlassPoint officials said the new Oman plant is already producing over 10% more steam than was agreed.
