Możliwe zastosowanie energii słonecznej do zasilania operacji wydobycia węglowodorów i metod wspomagania wydobycia ropy naftowej na dużych szerokościach geograficznych

Abstract

As the world enters the renewable revolution, it is crucial for the petroleum industry to remain relevant in the public eye and become environmentally awareness. One potential path to achieve these goals in a progressive and beneficial way is to integrate renewable energy sources into various nodes of the petroleum industrial operations. Different ways of achieving such integration are described in the review section of the article. These include utilizing solar energy to power upstream operations and a variety of enhanced oil recovery projects, such as microbial enhanced oil recovery and others, or using solar energy downstream to supply power to pumps, gas lift apparatus, etc. The article also proposes a novel potential application of solar energy to power operations and provide long-term sustainable energy source to petroleum operations in high latitudes. The potential applicability of solar power in petroleum engineering operations far North has long been neglected due to potential unprofitability and difficulty of construction of solar power grid in such harsh climactic conditions. However, now, as the world transitions to a new reality of co-existence of fossil fuels with alternative energy sources in light of growing concerns over climate change, it is a strategic time to implement the technology in profitable and environmentally conscious way in countries that have a trustworthy environmental record and strong, robust environmental policies, like Canada, as well as in less environmentally achieving countries with milder emission reduction targets such as Russian Federation.