Application of solar energy in the oil industry—Current status and future prospects

The scope of this review is to highlight the potential contributions of solar energy in meeting the energy requirements of the oil and gas industry. It includes an assessment of the key factors that impact the world energy scene and the anticipated role of solar energy up to 2035. It appears that oil and gas will continue to play a dominant role in meeting world energy demand over the next two decades, accounting for nearly 60% of total primary energy, and reaching around 9960Mtoe in 2035. The energy consumption of the oil and gas industries is nearly 10% of its total energy production and is expected to grow to a higher value with the growth of the share of unconventional oil and gas resources. The amounts of energy projected to be consumed by the oil and gas industry is estimated to be at least 39.4EJ by 2035. The energy supply to meet the demand of the oil and gas industry is based mostly on hydrocarbon energy sources, which leads to high levels of ecological footprints. Solar energy utilization within the industry will reduce its fossil fuels consumption, and therefore reduce its ecological footprints. Specifically, solar energy will help the industry in meeting part of its energy requirements in locations where conventional fuels, such as natural gas, are limited. This paper reviews various efforts made in developing solar technologies to suit the oil and gas industry. It also shows that some upstream oil and gas industries have already utilized solar energy in demonstration field applications. The review concludes that the application of solar energy in the oil and gas industry presents a very good opportunity for future business of the renewable energy industry. These opportunities includes the use of photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies.

[1]  Thomas H. Glanfield.  Energy required to produce petroleum products from oil sand versus other petroleum sources , 2002 .

[2]  Damian Miller,et al.  Why the oil companies lost solar , 2013 .

[3]  Tom Van Gerven,et al.  A review of intensification of photocatalytic processes , 2007 .

[4]  Anthony R. Kovscek,et al.  Solar-generated steam for oil recovery: Reservoir simulation, economic analysis, and life cycle assessment , 2012 .

[5]  Andrew T. Harris,et al.  Review of Major Design and Scale-up Considerations for Solar Photocatalytic Reactors , 2009 .

[6]  Kiyotaka Tahara,et al.  Refinement and transportation of petroleum with hydrogen from renewable energy , 2001 .

[7]  Maria A. Barrufet,et al.  Evaluation of Renewable Energy as Source of Power for Desalination of Oilfield Brines , 2009 .

[8]  Detlef W. Bahnemann,et al.  Photocatalytic treatment of an industrial wastewater in the double-skin sheet reactor , 1999 .

[9]  Anthony R. Kovscek,et al.  Solar-Generated Steam for Heavy-Oil Recovery: A Coupled Geomechanical and Reservoir Modeling Analysis , 2013 .

[10]  D N Gorman.  Assessment of central receiver solar thermal enhanced oil recovery systems , 1987 .

[11]  Anthony R. Kovscek,et al.  Emerging challenges and potential futures for thermally enhanced oil recovery , 2012 .

[12]  A. C. Gangadharan,et al.  Solar thermal systems in industry , 1982 .

[13]  Abdul Hasib Siddique,et al.  Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations for a Photovoltaic-based Power Generation System for Oil Rigs in Remote Locations , 2012 .

[14]  Charles F. Mason,et al.  Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries , 2012 .

[15]  M. Romero,et al.  Hydrogen production by steam-gasification of petroleum coke using concentrated solar power—I. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses , 2005 .

[16]  R. Meyer,et al.  Heavy Oil and Natural Bitumen Resources in Geological Basins of the World , 2007 .

[17]  A. Gregg,et al.  Performance analysis of large scale, amorphous silicon, photovoltaic power systems , 2005, Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005..

[18]  Syed Zahoor Ullah,et al.  Geothermal Reservoirs: A Renewable Source of Energy and an Extension of Petroleum Engineering , 2008 .

[19]  Fatihah Suja,et al.  Solar desalination of Gas Refinery wastewater using membrane distillation process , 2012 .

[20]  J. Wu,et al.  Photoreduction of CO2 to fuels under sunlight using optical-fiber reactor , 2008 .

[21]  John Beavis Lasich,et al.  Helitherm-Solar Power Throughput Enhancement And Heat Tracing For Heavy Oil Pipelines , 2001 .

[22]  Zhen-Hua Liu,et al.  A novel integrated solar desalination system with multi-stage evaporation/heat recovery processes , 2014 .

[23]  J. C. Bruno,et al.  State of the art on reactor designs for solar gasification of carbonaceous feedstock , 2013 .

[24]  L. A. Lamont.  1.04 – History of Photovoltaics , 2012 .

[25]  Ajay P. Mehta,et al.  Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Upstream Operations in a Carbon-Constrained World , 2008 .

[26]  J. Gary,et al.  Petroleum Refining: Technology and Economics , 1975 .

[27]  I. Agency,et al.  World Energy Outlook 2000 , 2000 .

[28]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Heat and mass transfer analysis of a suspension of reacting particles subjected to concentrated solar radiation – Application to the steam-gasification of carbonaceous materials , 2009 .

[29]  Matteo Chiesa,et al.  Solar assisted method for recovery of bitumen from oil sand , 2009 .

[30]  E. Piedmont,et al.  Solar Powered Cathodic Protection System , 2010 .

[31]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  A two-phase reactor model for the steam-gasification of carbonaceous materials under concentrated thermal radiation , 2008 .

[32]  Robert Gross,et al.  Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2012: An Overview , 2013 .

[33]  G.S.M. Teale.  35,000-kW-hr Later- A User's Experience of Photovoltaic Solar Panels , 1983 .

[34]  S. Iniyan,et al.  A review of solar thermal technologies , 2010 .

[35]  John N.M. Van Wunnik,et al.  The Impact Of Daily And Seasonal Cycles In Solar-Generated Steam On Oil Recovery , 2010 .

[36]  Joshua P. Meltzer,et al.  Low-Carbon Energy Transitions in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council Region , 2014 .

[37]  A. S. Nafey,et al.  Theoretical and experimental study of a small unit for solar desalination using flashing process , 2007 .

[38]  Mazin Nayef.  Renewable Energy at Kuwait Great Burgan Oil Field , 2013 .

[39]  William R. Paterson.  Petroleum refining: technology and economics 3rd edn. , 1995 .

[40]  R. Selin.  The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040 , 2013 .

[41]  Paul Verbeek,et al.  Solar Dew® - The Prospect of Fresh Water in the Desert , 2002 .

[42]  Judith Gurney.  BP Statistical Review of World Energy , 1985 .

[43]  Howard Andres,et al.  Energy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Petroleum Refining Industry , 2007 .

[44]  David R. Davies,et al.  Petroleum industry and renewables , 2007 .

[45]  C. Arnold,et al.  Solar Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery, (STEOR) Volume 1: Executive summary , 1980 .

[46]  A. A. El-Rahman,et al.  Egyptian Gas Fields Located In The Mediterranean Sea, Photo Voltaic Power Generation System Feeding The Off-Shore Unmanned Production Platforms (Case History) , 2003 .

[47]  M. Romero,et al.  Hydrogen production by steam-gasification of petroleum coke using concentrated solar power—II Reactor design, testing, and modeling , 2006 .

[48]  Stefan Bringezu,et al.  Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels , 2009 .

[49]  John Setel O'donnell,et al.  Performance of an Enclosed Trough EOR system in South Oman , 2014 .

[50]  B. Bierman,et al.  Construction of an Enclosed Trough EOR System in South Oman , 2014 .

[51]  Andrew Beath,et al.  Industrial energy usage in Australia and the potential for implementation of solar thermal heat and power , 2012 .

[52]  Ralph Smalley,et al.  Application of Solar Energy to Producing Operations of Oil and Gas Fields , 1979 .

[53]  Dominique Chauvin,et al.  Saving Energy in the Oil and Gas Industry , 2008 .

[54]  Manuel Romero,et al.  Hydrogen production by steam-gasification of carbonaceous materials using concentrated solar energy—IV. Reactor experimentation with vacuum residue , 2008 .

[55]  John Newman,et al.  Whither solar fuels , 2012 .

[56]  Mats Larsson,et al.  Global Energy Transformation , 2009 .

[57]  Joseph J. Hartvigsen,et al.  Formation of Synthesis Gas Using Solar Concentrator Photovoltaics (SCPV) and High Temperature Co-electrolysis (HTCE) of CO2 and H2O , 2010 .

[58]  Gioia Falcone,et al.  Oil and Gas expertise for Geothermal Exploitation: the Need for Technology Transfer , 2008 .

[59]  M. Hoffmann,et al.  Solar-Powered Photocatalytic Fiber-Optic Cable Reactor for Waste Stream Remediation , 1997 .

[60]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  A two-zone solar-driven gasifier concept: Reactor design and experimental evaluation with bagasse particles , 2014 .

[61]  Gilles Cochevelou.  Solar Power: Ready For Take-off! , 2005 .

[62]  Aie.  World Energy Outlook 2011 , 2001 .

[63]  P E Damon,et al.  Solar power. , 1974, Science.

[64]  Jonatan Pinkse,et al.  The Development and Commercialization of Solar PV Technology in the Oil Industry , 2012 .

[65]  T. V. D. Graaf,et al.  The international energy agency , 2014 .

[66]  Paula Dittrick.  Oil industry researching diverse energy sources , 2007 .

[67]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Solar hydrogen production via a two-step thermochemical process based on MgO/Mg redox reactions : Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses , 2008 .

[68]  Lado Kurdgelashvili,et al.  A Review of Solar Energy: Markets, Economics and Policies , 2011 .