CA1221026A - Method for recovering oil by in-situ combustion using oxygen - Google Patents
Method for recovering oil by in-situ combustion using oxygenInfo
- Publication number
- CA1221026A CA1221026A CA000467974A CA467974A CA1221026A CA 1221026 A CA1221026 A CA 1221026A CA 000467974 A CA000467974 A CA 000467974A CA 467974 A CA467974 A CA 467974A CA 1221026 A CA1221026 A CA 1221026A
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- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- oil
- formation
- containing formation
- oxygen
- well
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
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Abstract
METHOD FOR RECOVERING OIL BY
IN SITU COMBUSTION USING OXYGEN
ABSTRACT
The vertical sweep of an in situ combustion drive process using essentially pure oxygen as the oxidant is improved thereby enhancing oil recovery in a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20° API oil overlying and in contact with a water zone by injecting the oxygen into only the lower 15% of the oil-containing formation and producing oil in only the upper 70% of the formation.
IN SITU COMBUSTION USING OXYGEN
ABSTRACT
The vertical sweep of an in situ combustion drive process using essentially pure oxygen as the oxidant is improved thereby enhancing oil recovery in a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20° API oil overlying and in contact with a water zone by injecting the oxygen into only the lower 15% of the oil-containing formation and producing oil in only the upper 70% of the formation.
Description
METHOD FOR RECOVERING OIL BY
IN SITU COMBUSTION USING OXYGEN
This invention concerns an o~ygen driven in situ combustion oil recovery method which permits efficient recovery of oil from a subterranean, perrneable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API gravity oil with a continuously underlying water zone.
A variety of supplemental recovery techniques have been employed in order to increase the recovery of oil from subterranean viscous oil-containing formations. These techniques include thermal recovery methods, waterflooding and miscible flooding.
of the aforementioned recovery ~ethods, in-situ combustion appears to be the most promising method of economically recovering large amounts of viscous hydrocarbon deposits with currently available technology. The attractiveness of the in-situ combustion method arises primarily from the fact that it requires relatively little energy necessary for sustaining combustion of the hydrocarbon deposits. In contradistinction, other in-situ techniques, such as electrical resistance heating and steam injection require considerable amounts of energy, e.g., to produce tne steam at the surface before it is injected into the viscous oil-containing formation.
Conventional in-situ combustion involves drilling of at least two substantially vertical wells into the formation, the wells being separated by a hori~ontal distance within the formation. ~ne of tne wells is designated an injection well, and the other a production well. The recovery of oil is accomplished oy raising the temperature of the in-place oil adjacent the injection well to ignition temperature by some suitable means, e.g., with some type of a conventional down hole heater/burner apparatus, or by steam injection and then supporting combustion by injecting an oxygen-containing gas such as air, oxygen enriched air, oxygen mixed with an inert gas, or substantially pure oxygen. Thereaf~er, the injection of the oxygen-containing gas is continued so as to maintain the high ' temperature combustion front which is formed, and to drive the front through the formation toward the production well. As the combustion front moves through the formation, it displaces ahead of it the in-place oil reduced in viscosity as well as other formation fluids such as water and also combustion gas produced during the combustion process. These fluids are recovered from the formation via the production well.
In these processes, the gaseous combustion products and light hydrocarbons are considerably lighter than the oil and water present in the reservoir and thus, because of gravity segregation, tend to rise to the top of the reservoir when vertical communication exists.
Conse~uently, these products channel through the top of the formation to the producing well overriding a major portion of the reservoir and contacting only a small fraction of the reservoir oil. This behavior results in inefficient oil recovery and low vertical sweep efficiency.
The present invention provides a method for conducting an in situ combustion oil recovery operation using essentially pure oxygen in a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API gravity oil with a continuous underlying water zone wherein vertical sweep efficiency is increased tnereby significantly enhancing oil recovery.
This invention relates to a method for the recovery of oil from a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API gravity oil overlying and in contact with a water-saturated formation, said oil-containing formation being penetrated by at least one injection well and at least one spaced-apart production well, comprising establishing fluid communication between the injection well and only the lower 15 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation, establishing fluid communication between tne production well ana only the upper 70 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation, injecting essentially pure oxygen into the oil-containing formation via the injection well to initiate an in situ combustion front in the bottom of the oil-containing formation and continuing to inject essentially pure oxygen into the bottom of the oil-containing formation to advance the combustion front through the formation toward the production well and recovering fluid including oil from the upper 7û percent of the oil-containing formation via the production well.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an improvement in an oxygen-driven in situ combustion method for the recovery of oil from a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing a~out 20 API gravity oil overlying and in contact with a water-saturated formation, said oil-containing formation being penetrated by at least one injection well and at least one spaced-apart production well, comprises:
(a) establishing fluid communication between the injection well and only the lower 15 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(b) establishing fluid communication between the production well and only the upper 70 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(c) injecting essentially pure oxygen into the oil-containing formation via the injection well to initiate an in situ combustion front in the bottom of the oil-containing formation and the top of the water-saturated zone; and (d) continuing to inject essentially pure oxygen into the bottom of the oil-containinq zone and the top of the water-saturated zone to advance the combustion front through the formation toward the ~roduction well and recovering fluid including oil from the upper 70 percent of tne oil-containing formation via tne production well.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention comprises an improved oxygen driven in situ combustion method for recovering oil 0;~6 from a subterranean, perrneable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API oil wherein said forrnation is overlying and in contact with a water-saturated forrnation; and said formation is penetrated by at least one injection well in fluid communication with only the lower 15 percent of the oil-containing formation and at least one spaced-apart production well is in fluid commur,ication with only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing forrnation, and the improvement comprises the steps:
(a) injecting essentially pure oxygen into only the lr~wer 15 pe~cent of the oil-containing fr,nTation via said injection well to establish an in situ combustion front in said oil-containing formation;
and (b) continuing injection of said oxygen to support the in situ connbustion front and producing oil frorn only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing forrnation via said production well.
The invention is better understood by referring to the drawings appended hereto. In the drawings, Fiqure 1 illustrates a subterranean, oil-containing ~ormation containinq about 20 API oil overlying and in contact with a water zone to which the process of our invention is being applied and showing the rnethod of cornpleting the wells. Also, in the drawings, Figures 2 and 3 show grid systems for simulation runs with the location and cornpletion of an oxygen injection well, production wells, and water injection wells.
Referring to Figure 1 of the appended drawings, there is shown a subterranean, Permeable~ oil-containing formation 10 containing an oil which has an API gravity of about 20 API overlying and in contact with a water saturated zone 12, which is essentially continuous along the bottom portion of the oil-containing forrnation 10 to be exPloited by rneans of the subject process. The oil-containing formation 10 is penetrated by at least one injection well 14 and at ~Z~(32~
least one spaced-apart production well 16. Injection well 14 is perforated or other fluid flow communication is established between the well as shown in Figure 1 with only the lower 15% of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation. Production well 16 is completed in fluid communication with only the upper 70% of the vertical thickness of tne oil-containing formation lû. While recovery of the type contemplated by the present invention may be carried out by employing only two wells, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular number of wells. The invention may be practiced using a variety of well patterns as is well known in the art of the oil recovery, such as an inverted five spot pattern in which an injection well is surrounded with four production wells, or in a line drive arrangement in wnich a series of aligned injection wells and a series of aligned production wells are utilized. Any number of wells which ~ay be arranged according to any pattern ~ay be applied in using the present method as described and illustrated in U.S. Patent No. 3,927,716 to Burdyn et al. Either naturally occurring or artificially induced fluid communication should exist between the injection well 14 and the production well 16. fluid communication can be induced by techniques such as cyclic steam or solvent stimulation or fracturing using procedures well known in the art. Well-to-well fluid communication is essential to the proper functioning of tne process according to the invention.
An in situ combustion front is established only in the lower portion of the oil-containing formation 10 overlying the water-saturated zone 12 ~y injecting essentially pure oxygen into the injection well 14 until a corresponding increase in temperature indicates that ignition has taken place and a combustion front is formed. In situ combustion can be initiated in the lower portion of the oil-containing formation 10 by methods well known in the art through the use of electric downhole heaters, downhole gas burners, chemical injectors, or spontaneous ignition using a mixture of oxygen and steam.
Thereafter, injection of oxygen into the lower portion of the formation 10 via injection well 14 is continued to sustain the combustion reaction and advance the combustion front through the formation toward the production well 16 and fluid including oil is recovered from only the upper 70% of the formation via the production well 16. The oxygen injection rate will vary according to characteristics of individual formations such as thickness, depth and oil saturation. The heat generated by the in situ combustion front reduces the viscosity of the in place oil and the advancing combustion front effectively displaces ahead of it the mobilized oil which is recovered from the upper portion of the formation 10 via the production well 16. The recovery of fluid including oil is continued until the combustion front has progressed through the formation 10 to the production well 16 which is determined once the temperature at the production well begins to rise. The present in situ combustion operation using essentially pure oxygen and a specific injection and production well completion applied to a permeable formation containing about 20 API oil overlying and in contact with a water zone results in improved sweep efficiency thereby significantly enhancing oil recovery.
!Jtilizing a computational model and computer program will demonstrate the enhanced oil recovery achieved from the application of the process according to the invention.
A three-phase black oil simulator was used to simulate an oil-containing formation overlying and in contact with a water zone wherein the oil-containing formation contains about 1730 barrels of total oil in place at a viscosity of 90 cp and an API gravity of 20.
Table 1 below lists the reservoir properties used in the computational model.
.
IN SITU COMBUSTION USING OXYGEN
This invention concerns an o~ygen driven in situ combustion oil recovery method which permits efficient recovery of oil from a subterranean, perrneable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API gravity oil with a continuously underlying water zone.
A variety of supplemental recovery techniques have been employed in order to increase the recovery of oil from subterranean viscous oil-containing formations. These techniques include thermal recovery methods, waterflooding and miscible flooding.
of the aforementioned recovery ~ethods, in-situ combustion appears to be the most promising method of economically recovering large amounts of viscous hydrocarbon deposits with currently available technology. The attractiveness of the in-situ combustion method arises primarily from the fact that it requires relatively little energy necessary for sustaining combustion of the hydrocarbon deposits. In contradistinction, other in-situ techniques, such as electrical resistance heating and steam injection require considerable amounts of energy, e.g., to produce tne steam at the surface before it is injected into the viscous oil-containing formation.
Conventional in-situ combustion involves drilling of at least two substantially vertical wells into the formation, the wells being separated by a hori~ontal distance within the formation. ~ne of tne wells is designated an injection well, and the other a production well. The recovery of oil is accomplished oy raising the temperature of the in-place oil adjacent the injection well to ignition temperature by some suitable means, e.g., with some type of a conventional down hole heater/burner apparatus, or by steam injection and then supporting combustion by injecting an oxygen-containing gas such as air, oxygen enriched air, oxygen mixed with an inert gas, or substantially pure oxygen. Thereaf~er, the injection of the oxygen-containing gas is continued so as to maintain the high ' temperature combustion front which is formed, and to drive the front through the formation toward the production well. As the combustion front moves through the formation, it displaces ahead of it the in-place oil reduced in viscosity as well as other formation fluids such as water and also combustion gas produced during the combustion process. These fluids are recovered from the formation via the production well.
In these processes, the gaseous combustion products and light hydrocarbons are considerably lighter than the oil and water present in the reservoir and thus, because of gravity segregation, tend to rise to the top of the reservoir when vertical communication exists.
Conse~uently, these products channel through the top of the formation to the producing well overriding a major portion of the reservoir and contacting only a small fraction of the reservoir oil. This behavior results in inefficient oil recovery and low vertical sweep efficiency.
The present invention provides a method for conducting an in situ combustion oil recovery operation using essentially pure oxygen in a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API gravity oil with a continuous underlying water zone wherein vertical sweep efficiency is increased tnereby significantly enhancing oil recovery.
This invention relates to a method for the recovery of oil from a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API gravity oil overlying and in contact with a water-saturated formation, said oil-containing formation being penetrated by at least one injection well and at least one spaced-apart production well, comprising establishing fluid communication between the injection well and only the lower 15 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation, establishing fluid communication between tne production well ana only the upper 70 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation, injecting essentially pure oxygen into the oil-containing formation via the injection well to initiate an in situ combustion front in the bottom of the oil-containing formation and continuing to inject essentially pure oxygen into the bottom of the oil-containing formation to advance the combustion front through the formation toward the production well and recovering fluid including oil from the upper 7û percent of the oil-containing formation via the production well.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, an improvement in an oxygen-driven in situ combustion method for the recovery of oil from a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing a~out 20 API gravity oil overlying and in contact with a water-saturated formation, said oil-containing formation being penetrated by at least one injection well and at least one spaced-apart production well, comprises:
(a) establishing fluid communication between the injection well and only the lower 15 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(b) establishing fluid communication between the production well and only the upper 70 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(c) injecting essentially pure oxygen into the oil-containing formation via the injection well to initiate an in situ combustion front in the bottom of the oil-containing formation and the top of the water-saturated zone; and (d) continuing to inject essentially pure oxygen into the bottom of the oil-containinq zone and the top of the water-saturated zone to advance the combustion front through the formation toward the ~roduction well and recovering fluid including oil from the upper 70 percent of tne oil-containing formation via tne production well.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention comprises an improved oxygen driven in situ combustion method for recovering oil 0;~6 from a subterranean, perrneable, oil-containing formation containing about 20 API oil wherein said forrnation is overlying and in contact with a water-saturated forrnation; and said formation is penetrated by at least one injection well in fluid communication with only the lower 15 percent of the oil-containing formation and at least one spaced-apart production well is in fluid commur,ication with only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing forrnation, and the improvement comprises the steps:
(a) injecting essentially pure oxygen into only the lr~wer 15 pe~cent of the oil-containing fr,nTation via said injection well to establish an in situ combustion front in said oil-containing formation;
and (b) continuing injection of said oxygen to support the in situ connbustion front and producing oil frorn only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing forrnation via said production well.
The invention is better understood by referring to the drawings appended hereto. In the drawings, Fiqure 1 illustrates a subterranean, oil-containing ~ormation containinq about 20 API oil overlying and in contact with a water zone to which the process of our invention is being applied and showing the rnethod of cornpleting the wells. Also, in the drawings, Figures 2 and 3 show grid systems for simulation runs with the location and cornpletion of an oxygen injection well, production wells, and water injection wells.
Referring to Figure 1 of the appended drawings, there is shown a subterranean, Permeable~ oil-containing formation 10 containing an oil which has an API gravity of about 20 API overlying and in contact with a water saturated zone 12, which is essentially continuous along the bottom portion of the oil-containing forrnation 10 to be exPloited by rneans of the subject process. The oil-containing formation 10 is penetrated by at least one injection well 14 and at ~Z~(32~
least one spaced-apart production well 16. Injection well 14 is perforated or other fluid flow communication is established between the well as shown in Figure 1 with only the lower 15% of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation. Production well 16 is completed in fluid communication with only the upper 70% of the vertical thickness of tne oil-containing formation lû. While recovery of the type contemplated by the present invention may be carried out by employing only two wells, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular number of wells. The invention may be practiced using a variety of well patterns as is well known in the art of the oil recovery, such as an inverted five spot pattern in which an injection well is surrounded with four production wells, or in a line drive arrangement in wnich a series of aligned injection wells and a series of aligned production wells are utilized. Any number of wells which ~ay be arranged according to any pattern ~ay be applied in using the present method as described and illustrated in U.S. Patent No. 3,927,716 to Burdyn et al. Either naturally occurring or artificially induced fluid communication should exist between the injection well 14 and the production well 16. fluid communication can be induced by techniques such as cyclic steam or solvent stimulation or fracturing using procedures well known in the art. Well-to-well fluid communication is essential to the proper functioning of tne process according to the invention.
An in situ combustion front is established only in the lower portion of the oil-containing formation 10 overlying the water-saturated zone 12 ~y injecting essentially pure oxygen into the injection well 14 until a corresponding increase in temperature indicates that ignition has taken place and a combustion front is formed. In situ combustion can be initiated in the lower portion of the oil-containing formation 10 by methods well known in the art through the use of electric downhole heaters, downhole gas burners, chemical injectors, or spontaneous ignition using a mixture of oxygen and steam.
Thereafter, injection of oxygen into the lower portion of the formation 10 via injection well 14 is continued to sustain the combustion reaction and advance the combustion front through the formation toward the production well 16 and fluid including oil is recovered from only the upper 70% of the formation via the production well 16. The oxygen injection rate will vary according to characteristics of individual formations such as thickness, depth and oil saturation. The heat generated by the in situ combustion front reduces the viscosity of the in place oil and the advancing combustion front effectively displaces ahead of it the mobilized oil which is recovered from the upper portion of the formation 10 via the production well 16. The recovery of fluid including oil is continued until the combustion front has progressed through the formation 10 to the production well 16 which is determined once the temperature at the production well begins to rise. The present in situ combustion operation using essentially pure oxygen and a specific injection and production well completion applied to a permeable formation containing about 20 API oil overlying and in contact with a water zone results in improved sweep efficiency thereby significantly enhancing oil recovery.
!Jtilizing a computational model and computer program will demonstrate the enhanced oil recovery achieved from the application of the process according to the invention.
A three-phase black oil simulator was used to simulate an oil-containing formation overlying and in contact with a water zone wherein the oil-containing formation contains about 1730 barrels of total oil in place at a viscosity of 90 cp and an API gravity of 20.
Table 1 below lists the reservoir properties used in the computational model.
.
2~
Rese voir Data Net pay, feet 35 Porosity, % 31 Permeability, md 1000, 2500 and snoo Reservoir pressure, psi 1200 Depth (subsurface), feet 2660 Oil viscosity, cp 90 Oil saturation, %, P.V. 45%, 15%, 2%
Reservoir temperature, F 125 Figure 2 of the drawings shows a vertical cross section of the model formation used and location of five wells, an oxygen injection well 1 in fluid communication with only the upper 14% of the formation as indicated by the dashed lines, two separate production wells 2 and 3 in fluid communication with only the upper 71% of the formation as indicated by the dashed lines, well 4 in Block 1 to model the effect of non-closed patterns and a water injection well 5 which maintains reservoir pressure to simulate an aquifer. Figure 3 illustrates the sa~e ~odel as shown in Figure 2 except that injection well 1 is completed to be in fluid communication with only tne lower 14% of the oil-containing formation.
The model for~ation shown in Figures 2 and 3 is at a 2 dip an~le and was used with a reactangular mode consisting of 19 blocks in the X or horizontal direction and 8 blocks in the Z or vertical direction. The injection well 1 was operated with constant injection rate. The production wells were operated with a flowing bottom hole pressure of 1100 psi. The vertical thickness of each layer from top to bottom is 3.5 feet and the bottom layer which represents an underlying water zone is 10.5 feet in thickness. The cross-sectional thickness, ~Y is 20 feet and the width9 ~X, is 39.3 feet for grids 1 and 2, 26 feet for grids 3 to 14, 118 feet for grids 15 and 16 and 39.3 feet for grids 17 to 19. The hatched blocks in Figures 2 and 3 depict burned zones having zero oil saturation at oxygen breakthrough and 350 and 40nF temperature isotherms are also shown in these figures at oxygen breakthrough.
Two runs ~ere made using the well completions shown in Figures 2 and 3 and a third run with the injection well 1 completed in the lower 10% of the vertical thickness of the formation a distance of
Rese voir Data Net pay, feet 35 Porosity, % 31 Permeability, md 1000, 2500 and snoo Reservoir pressure, psi 1200 Depth (subsurface), feet 2660 Oil viscosity, cp 90 Oil saturation, %, P.V. 45%, 15%, 2%
Reservoir temperature, F 125 Figure 2 of the drawings shows a vertical cross section of the model formation used and location of five wells, an oxygen injection well 1 in fluid communication with only the upper 14% of the formation as indicated by the dashed lines, two separate production wells 2 and 3 in fluid communication with only the upper 71% of the formation as indicated by the dashed lines, well 4 in Block 1 to model the effect of non-closed patterns and a water injection well 5 which maintains reservoir pressure to simulate an aquifer. Figure 3 illustrates the sa~e ~odel as shown in Figure 2 except that injection well 1 is completed to be in fluid communication with only tne lower 14% of the oil-containing formation.
The model for~ation shown in Figures 2 and 3 is at a 2 dip an~le and was used with a reactangular mode consisting of 19 blocks in the X or horizontal direction and 8 blocks in the Z or vertical direction. The injection well 1 was operated with constant injection rate. The production wells were operated with a flowing bottom hole pressure of 1100 psi. The vertical thickness of each layer from top to bottom is 3.5 feet and the bottom layer which represents an underlying water zone is 10.5 feet in thickness. The cross-sectional thickness, ~Y is 20 feet and the width9 ~X, is 39.3 feet for grids 1 and 2, 26 feet for grids 3 to 14, 118 feet for grids 15 and 16 and 39.3 feet for grids 17 to 19. The hatched blocks in Figures 2 and 3 depict burned zones having zero oil saturation at oxygen breakthrough and 350 and 40nF temperature isotherms are also shown in these figures at oxygen breakthrough.
Two runs ~ere made using the well completions shown in Figures 2 and 3 and a third run with the injection well 1 completed in the lower 10% of the vertical thickness of the formation a distance of
3.5 feet above the water zone. The results of the three runs are summarized in Table 2 below.
Injection well Complet_on Injection RateOil Recovery B.T.T.,_ X-grid Z-grid ~SCF/day % days 14 1 30 12.5 180 14 6 30 21.0 300 14 7 30 28.7 33a The results clearly show that maximum total oil recovery of 28.7% is achieved when the injection well is completed in the lower portion of the oil-containing formation compared to 12.5% and 21.0%
for the other cases. The increased oil recovery is a result of a more uniform vertical sweep and heating of the formation.
Injection well Complet_on Injection RateOil Recovery B.T.T.,_ X-grid Z-grid ~SCF/day % days 14 1 30 12.5 180 14 6 30 21.0 300 14 7 30 28.7 33a The results clearly show that maximum total oil recovery of 28.7% is achieved when the injection well is completed in the lower portion of the oil-containing formation compared to 12.5% and 21.0%
for the other cases. The increased oil recovery is a result of a more uniform vertical sweep and heating of the formation.
Claims (2)
1. An oxygen-driven in situ combustion method for the recovery of oil from a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20° API gravity oil overlying and in contact with a water-saturated formation, said oil-containing formation being penetrated by at least one injection well and at least one spaced-apart production well, comprising:
(a) establishing fluid communication between the injection well and only the lower 15 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(b) establishing fluid communication between the production well and only the upper 70 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(c) injecting essentially pure oxygen into the oil-containing formation via the injection well to initiate an in situ combustion front in the bottom of the oil-containing formation and the top of the water-saturated zone; and (d) continuing to inject essentially pure oxygen into the bottom of the oil-containing zone and the top of the water-saturated zone to advance the combustion front through the formation toward the production well and recovering fluid including oil from the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing formation via the production well.
(a) establishing fluid communication between the injection well and only the lower 15 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(b) establishing fluid communication between the production well and only the upper 70 percent of the vertical thickness of the oil-containing formation;
(c) injecting essentially pure oxygen into the oil-containing formation via the injection well to initiate an in situ combustion front in the bottom of the oil-containing formation and the top of the water-saturated zone; and (d) continuing to inject essentially pure oxygen into the bottom of the oil-containing zone and the top of the water-saturated zone to advance the combustion front through the formation toward the production well and recovering fluid including oil from the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing formation via the production well.
2. An oxygen driven in situ combustion method for recovering oil from a subterranean, permeable, oil-containing formation containing about 20° API oil, said formation overlying and in contact with a water-saturated formation, said formation penetrated by at least one injection well in fluid communication with only the lower 15 percent of the oil-containing formation and at least one spaced-apart production well in fluid communication with only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing formation, comprising:
(a) injecting essentially pure oxygen into only the lower 15 percent of the oil-containing formation via said injection well to establish an in situ combustion front in said oil-containing formation;
and (b) continuing injection of said oxygen to support the in situ combustion front and producing oil from only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing formation via said production well.
(a) injecting essentially pure oxygen into only the lower 15 percent of the oil-containing formation via said injection well to establish an in situ combustion front in said oil-containing formation;
and (b) continuing injection of said oxygen to support the in situ combustion front and producing oil from only the upper 70 percent of the oil-containing formation via said production well.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US55389983A | 1983-11-21 | 1983-11-21 | |
| US553,899 | 1983-11-21 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1221026A true CA1221026A (en) | 1987-04-28 |
Family
ID=24211221
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000467974A Expired CA1221026A (en) | 1983-11-21 | 1984-11-16 | Method for recovering oil by in-situ combustion using oxygen |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1221026A (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US10012064B2 (en) | 2015-04-09 | 2018-07-03 | Highlands Natural Resources, Plc | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
| US10344204B2 (en) | 2015-04-09 | 2019-07-09 | Diversion Technologies, LLC | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
| US10982520B2 (en) | 2016-04-27 | 2021-04-20 | Highland Natural Resources, PLC | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
-
1984
- 1984-11-16 CA CA000467974A patent/CA1221026A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US10012064B2 (en) | 2015-04-09 | 2018-07-03 | Highlands Natural Resources, Plc | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
| US10344204B2 (en) | 2015-04-09 | 2019-07-09 | Diversion Technologies, LLC | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
| US10385257B2 (en) | 2015-04-09 | 2019-08-20 | Highands Natural Resources, PLC | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
| US10385258B2 (en) | 2015-04-09 | 2019-08-20 | Highlands Natural Resources, Plc | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
| US10982520B2 (en) | 2016-04-27 | 2021-04-20 | Highland Natural Resources, PLC | Gas diverter for well and reservoir stimulation |
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