GlassPoint to showcase solar technology at Produced Water forum

GlassPoint Solar, the leading supplier of solar to the oil and gas industry, will be presenting at the 2nd Middle East Oilfield Produced Water Conference this week in Muscat.

GlassPoint water expert, Siddiqa al Lawati ( pictured), will discuss the environmental and economic advantages of using GlassPoint’s solar technology in the produced water treatment process. The 2017 bi-annual event, held under the patronage of Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Oil and Gas, brings together water and oil and gas industry experts throughout the Gulf region to share best practices.

“For every barrel of oil produced in Oman, roughly 9 barrels of water are produced along with it. Every day more than one million cubic meters of produced water are generated in the Sultanate’s oilfields,” explained Siddiqa Al Lawati.

“There is a clear imperative to put this precious resource to good use. However, before it can be utilised in applications from industry to agriculture, the water has to be treated. Treatment of produced water is energy intensive, consuming vast quantities of steam and electricity, typically produced by burning natural gas. This process emits significant greenhouse emissions and causes considerable environmental damage.”

Presenting on ways to use solar energy for water treatment, Al Lawati added, “Harnessing our abundant sunshine to create the steam or electricity for water treatment methods provides an environmentally-friendly solution. And with solar prices dropping drastically over the past few years, solar desalination is also an economically viable option. Steam produced by GlassPoint’s proven technology has the potential to bring solar energy and water treatment together, ensuring the sustainability of oilfields in Oman.”

GlassPoint is the developer of enclosed trough technology that uses concentrated sunlight to produce steam used in oil production. Its technology has been deployed on oilfields in California and the Middle East, where its demonstrated consistent operational uptime even through severe sandstorms.

GlassPoint is currently building one of the world’s largest solar plants of any kind with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the country’s largest oil and gas producer.

Miraah, which means mirror in Arabic, is a landmark 1,021 MW thermal project bridging the renewable and traditional energy industries. Once complete, it will produce 6,000 tonnes of steam daily, delivering a significant portion of the steam requirements at PDO’s Amal oilfield.