Chevron is testing solar powered oil production

Chevron Corp. is testing a way to use solar power to increase oil production.

The San Ramon company (NYSE: CVX) has built a test project in Coalinga where the sun heats steam that’s pumped into underground oil reservoirs.

Chevron Technology Ventures funded the project, built by BrightSource Energy Inc. of Oakland, which uses 7,600 mirrors to focus solar heat onto a boiler. Water boiled into steam is then injected into the oil reservoir underground to increase the amount of oil recovered.

Typically, Chevron and other oil companies use natural gas from oil wells to heat steam that is used to help squeeze more oil out. Gas is often abundant at oil recovery sites, and it’s a cheap way to quickly heat lots of steam.

But Chevron wants to test this newfangled idea for use in places where natural gas isn’t cheap, or where it isn’t available.

Oil has been produced at the Coalinga Field since the 1890s. Crude there is heavy and harder to get out of the ground than other light crudes, so steam is injected to reduce its viscosity.

Read more in the San Francisco Business Times.