Oman's greenhouses to grow oil

Oman is a leader in EOR and will soon bring in a powerful friend to help pump more oil—the sun

The Beatles hit, "Here Comes The Sun", could be a daily anthem for the Gulf states. It might sound romantic, but within hours those first dawn rays of sunlight have been stoked up into fierce heat. The tendency over the years has been to find shelter from, rather than exploit, the ball in the sky. But a project in Oman is about to harness the sun's natural heat to reduce the cost of oil production. Light crude oil that can be pumped to the surface easily presents no problems. But exploiting Oman's large reserves of heavy oil is another matter. Over the years, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has become a leading player in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), the injection of steam into reservoirs to