GlassPoint Solar, the leading supplier of solar to the oil and gas industry, announced the appointment of energy finance expert Nazar Al Lawati as Senior Vice President of Project Development, International.
Al Lawati, who most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of state owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic), will lead GlassPoint’s growth in the Middle East region. His mandate includes fostering partnerships with strategic and international partners to develop and finance large-scale solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects.
“I am delighted to be part of an industry leader that is paving the way for solar deployment across the region,” stated Nazar Al Lawati. “GlassPoint’s technology offers significant economic and environmental benefits to the local economies where we operate. Using solar to produce steam for EOR can reduce an oilfield’s gas requirements and corresponding carbon emissions by up to 80%. Significant value can be extracted from the saved gas through export or by using it to fuel industrial projects and provide feedstock to the petrochemical industry.”
AL Lawati added, “By harnessing the sun’s rays, the Sultanate and other countries in the Middle East can recover heavy oil sustainably while also reducing production costs. GlassPoint’s solution can produce steam for a lower cost than steam made from burning natural gas.”
Nazar joins GlassPoint with over 17 years of financial management experience in the energy and consumer sectors. During his tenure at Orpic, one of Oman’s largest and most rapidly growing businesses in the Middle East oil industry, he supported the company in securing major funding deals. This included raising US$3.8 billion for Orpic’s Liwa Plastics Industries Complex Project, US$2.8 billion for the Sohar Refinery Improvement Project and US$ 900 million in corporate debt. Prior to that, Al Lawati worked with Royal Dutch Shell in Abu Dhabi where he was in charge of finance for the company’s non operated ventures in Abu Dhabi and Pakistan. He also held a number of financial roles with Unilever in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Rod MacGregor, GlassPoint’s President and Chief Executive Officer, expressed, “I am thrilled to welcome Nazar to our growing team. I am confident that his expertise and successful track record in securing and executing multibillion dollar deals around the world will help us accelerate projects and offer our customers the lowest cost steam for their thermal recovery operations.”
Nazar Al Lawati will be based in GlassPoint’s regional headquarters in Muscat alongside the majority of the executive team including the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
GlassPoint and its partner Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) broke ground last November on Miraah, a 1,021 MW solar thermal project on PDO’s Amal oilfield in south Oman. Once complete, Miraah, which means mirror in Arabic, will be among the world’s largest solar plants of any kind. The project will save 5.6 trillion British Thermal Units (BTUs) of natural gas each year and reduce CO2 emissions by over 300,000 tons annually.
The company’s major shareholders include Royal Dutch Shell and the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), the largest sovereign wealth fund in Oman.