Enchanting Oman: Wadi Shab

al manhal A magazine exploring the oil and gas industry A fount of knowledge Issue two 2014 Enchanting Oman: Wadi Shab 02 10 12 Solar renewable Omani jobs A day in the energy: past, for skilled Omani life of... present and future workers “In a time of increasing importance of the role of media in contemporary life of communities and peoples, it is necessary to work on the development of Omani media, to lead message in the development of the capacity citizen and awareness in turn in the building and his country, and also it contributes to the consolidation of the relations of friendship and cooperation with the international community” His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Dear Readers, Welcome to issue two of al manhal for 2014. As ever, we have a range of features which we hope will enrich your knowledge about Oman’s oil and gas industry and the important role PDO plays within it. Production Manager a brand new feature series – My Oman – that celebrates the Karima al Shahaibi incomparableTurn to the beauty centre of ourpages country. and you’ll This colourfulalso find addition the first to ofal manhal is produced in association with PDO employee and keen Graphic Design Mohammed al Mahrazi natural wonder to be captured by his lens. photographer Mohammed al Mahrazy, with Wadi Shab the first Design Consultants Our main industry topic this issue looks at the potential for solar United Media Services LLC renewable energy to power the oil and gas sector, spotlighting the successful launch of PDO’s solar steam generation pilot at Amal Translation & Editing and revealing plans for an exciting new solar power project. Saleh al Alawi, Yaqoub al-Mufargi, Ikhlas al Waili & Mohammed al Arymi Our next topic concerns business ethics – an issue that has been high on Oman’s agenda. We look at a few of the ways Printer PDO is helping to ensure its staff ‘do the right thing’ as well as Loay International LLC pinpointing some of the wrong turns that can lead down the path to corruption. Advisory Board Suleiman al Manthari, Our ever-popular Day in the Life feature is a little different this External Affairs and Communications time around. We’ve put Well and Reservoir Management Planner, Manager, PDO Hussain al Noumani in the hotseat, but instead of focusing on Abla al Riyami, his daily work routine we’ve taken key milestones in his PDO In-Country Value Director, PDO career, to underline the possibilities for personal and professional Intisaar al Kindy, Exploration Director, PDO Dr. Saleh al Anbouri, growthLast, that but the certainly Company not offers least, its we high turn fliers. our attention to the important work PDO is doing – in partnership with the government Ministry of Oil and Gas and the contractor community – to provide thousands of good job Dr. Rashid al Maamari, opportunities for young Omanis within the oil and gas industry. Sultan Qaboos University Prof. Sobhi Nasir, We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed Sultan Qaboos University preparing it. Also, have you noticed our new look and feel? We always welcome your comments and feedback so feel free to contact us using the details on the right side of the page! Address editorial correspondence to: Corporate Communications PDO, P.O. Box 81 Regards, Muscat 100, Oman [email protected] Team al manhal © 2014 Petroleum Development Oman Articles from al manhal permission on condition that: the text be neither edited nor abridged; the magazine andmay Petroleumbe reprinted Development without specific Oman Distributed every quarter to Sultan be credited; and a copy of the reprinted article be provided Qaboos University, local private and to al manhal’s managing editor. government colleges, and schools. Contents 02 Solar renewable energy: past, present and future Ethics: why it’s everybody’s energy pilot now successfully up andWith running, PDO’s first al manhal major solar looks at business the future for solar power in the With governments and wider society oil and gas industry. demanding the highest standards of ethics from the business world, PDO is stepping up its efforts to ensure staff ‘do the right thing’. 08 12 Omani jobs for skilled Omani workers 14 A day in the life of... 16 Enchanting Oman: Wadi Shab 02 Solar renewable energy: past, present and future With PDO’s first major solar energy pilot now successfully up and running, al manhal looks at the future for solar power in the oil and gas industry. When PDO’s Head of New Technology construction of the outer glasshouse that protected Implementation, Dr Syham Bentouati, received the the sunlight collecting mirrors. This glasshouse came from Holland, and featured a ceiling system that smile of satisfaction: the Amal solar steam pilot was was sealed to the metal frame using plastic. That upcall and on herrunning mobile – on phone time she and couldn’t on budget! help but flash a might be OK in a more temperate European country, The plant, which was featured in al manhal’s but in the baking Middle Eastern sun the plastic deformed, breaking the seal. The defect didn’t come 12 December 2012 – or 12/12/12 to give its more to light until the glasshouse sprang a leak during the auspiciousfirst issue ofshorthand. 2013, started From producingthere, steam on the plant was quickly brought up to withoutmajor storm the ofneed April to 2013, turn but off once the Amal works, steamdiscovered generation. it was quickly rectified yearfull speed of operation. and by 1 February 2013 the clock could start on its first complete what next? In fact, during that same storm By the time that year was over, the the overall integrity of the solar plant’s use of sunshine to generate steam process was underlined when steam was estimated to have saved it was the only operation in the almost a million cubic metres of natural gas, at the neighbouring area that didn’t need to be shut down same time reducing PDO’s carbon footprint by some due to the effects of the bad weather. 1,800 tonnes of CO . 2 Amal works – what next? From a technical perspective, the plant worked even better than anticipated, with the average So the concept of solar steam generation is volume of steam generated around 4% to 5% in proven. What next? The simple answer might be to excess of the contractual obligation. There were a few simply scale things up; to have solar power contribute learnings along the way; most notably relating to the significantly to the steam at Amal or one of PDO’s 03 04 other thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. First the size of the solar plant would have to at least be However, there’s a major challenge in terms of the There are two significant challenges involved, though. footprint such a plant would occupy. At the moment, with and nightly steam requirements while the sun shines. its relatively limited, 50 tonnes per day contribution to doubled, to createSecond, sufficient an appropriate capacity to storagecover both medium daily the overall steam needs at Amal, the pilot would have to be chosen. There are solar facility forms a reasonably compact a few options out there, but one has site equivalent to a couple of football Solar energy been reasonably proven in real world pitches. To cover all of Amal’s daily needs conditions, namely molten salt. As its of around 5,000-6,000 tonnes, the solar in Oman name suggests, this is a form of salt that plant would have to grow to cover more becomes liquid when subjected to very than 200 football pitches. And this is not high temperatures, with this latent heat even a particularly substantial project by able to be extracted later as required. On a simpler level, thermal EOR standards: the equivalent project at Qarn the heat can also be stored in blocks of concrete, although Alam gets through 20,000 tonnes of steam a day! And then, of course, there’s the question of what happens at night. Steam injection is a 24/7 process in questionable.this is much less efficient. Even pools of water have been most applications and even though the Omani day is a proposed for heat storage, although again, efficiency is consistently long one due to the country’s equatorial Solar energy in Oman location, there are numerous hours of darkness when Given its mid-year publication date, you are no doubt the solar energy collecting mirrors fall idle. The straight- reading this issue of al manhal while sheltering from the searing Middle Eastern sun in an air-conditioned room gaps – the more challenging, but more sustainable, option is somewhere. As such a sunny country, Oman must be toforward introduce solution some is formto run of a heatgas-powered storage that boiler can to be fill fed in the by among the premier places for solar energy to take hold, the sun during the day then tapped during the night. right? 05 The simple answer is ‘yes’. As already mentioned, issues around solar energy should be thought of as show Oman’s equatorial location means it gets a better quality stoppers. Indeed, PDO is now pressing ahead with its of sunshine than many other parts of the world. The sun next major solar power pilot (see panel). The Company shines for a fairly consistent amount of time each day is also investigating the potential for solar desalination throughout the year, particularly when compared with plants, whereby the sun’s energy would heat salty water parts of northern Europe where the sun completely disappears for large stretches of winter time.

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