IMPLEMENTATION OF SOLAR ENERGY IN HEAVY OIL INDUSTRY

Abstract: Steam injection is one of the most beneficial thermal EOR techniques. Steam injection is an especially effective method for the reservoirs that contain heavy crude oil. Steam is injected in the oil reservoir to reduce the viscosity, or thin, heavy crude thus facilitating its flow to the surface. Oil producers applying steam injection to extract more oil from maturing oil fields. Traditionally, producing steam for EOR requires burning a huge amount of natural gas that is then injected to extract oil reserves. Actually, natural gas as known is a valuable supplier for higher value uses such as LNG Export, power generation and industrial development. The objectives of this research areto highlight the strengths and weaknesses of solar thermal enhanced oil recovery (TEOR), to evaluate The viability of a solar thermal steam generation system with and without natural gas back-up for thermal enhanced oil recovery TEOR in heavy oil, to investigate the impacts of using solar energy rather than natural gas to generate steam for Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery TEOR, and the potential for future utilization that and increasing importance of TEOR methods worldwide.Results showed that solar EOR can reduce the amount of a gas an oilfield consumes for EOR by up to 80%. The gas saved can be used for higher value applications, such as electricity generation, desalination, industrial development or export as LNG, boosting total economic activity.

Keywords: Enhanced oil recovery, solar energy, parabolic trough collector, Steam injection, Heat transfer fluid.