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Oman’s State General Reserve Fund and Royal Dutch Shell have led an investment of $53mn in GlassPoint’s EOR solutions.
GlassPoint has announced the funding will be used to speed up the process of deploying solar steam generators, which can reduce an oilfield’s natural gas consumption by up to 80%.
In the process large, curved mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight on a boiler tube containing water. The concentrated energy boils the water to produce high-pressured steam, which is injected into an oil reservoir to heat heavy oil and boost production.
Since 2012 GlassPoint’s pilot project with PDO has been generating an average of 50 tons of steam daily.
Rod MacGregor, President & CEO of GlassPoint, stated, “Solar-powered oil production will save valuable gas resources that can be used to establish new industries and create new jobs for Omanis.
“The support from Oman’s largest sovereign wealth fund and Shell’s corporate venture arm, Shell Technology Ventures, validates solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and its role in driving economic growth.
His Excellency Abdulsalam Al Murshidi, Executive President of SGRF, said: “GlassPoint’s technology can provide a multitude of tangible economic benefits to Oman and any country with abundant sunshine and a scarcity of alternative fuel for thermal EOR. By diverting natural gas from oil production to power new industries, we believe this investment will have profound implications on the economy beyond the direct impact it brings to the oil and gas sector.”
GlassPoint’s existing investors, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Nth Power and RockPort Capital, also participated in the $53mn funding round.
