Methods for increasing oil production
AssigneeJames K. and Mary A. Sanders Family LLC
InventorsJames Kenneth Sanders, Duck Joo Yang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of recovering petroleum from dormant oil wells or increasing the production of oil wells is disclosed. An alkali or alkali earth carbonate is introduced into a water layer associated with a subterranean petroleum reservoir and/or an explosive composition is introduced into an oil layer associated with a subterranean petroleum reservoir. CO2 gas is produced by reacting the alkali or alkali earth carbonate with an acid and/or by detonating the explosive composition. An explosive composition can be introduced and detonated to achieve sufficient CO2 gas production to increase pressure within the subterranean petroleum reservoir. Petroleum recovery can be further enhanced through the use of recycling.
Claims20
A method to increase petroleum production from an oil well drilled into a petroleum reservoir having an oil layer and an aqueous layer having one or more of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions present, comprising:
- delivering an acid into the aqueous layer through one or more injection wells drilled into the aqueous layer;
- delivering one or more of an alkali carbonate or an alkali earth carbonate into the aqueous layer through one or more injection wells drilled into the aqueous layer to generate CO2 gas;
- sealing the oil well in a manner to substantially confine an increase in pressure within the petroleum reservoir,
- recovering CO2 gas from recovered petroleum using one or more gas-liquid separators;
- and
- recycling the recovered CO2 gas by injecting at least a portion of the recovered CO2 gas back into the oil well.
A method to increase petroleum production from an oil well drilled into a petroleum reservoir having an oil layer and a water layer, wherein at least one selected from one or more injection wells and one or more production wells are drilled into the oil layer and one or more injection wells are drilled into the water layer, comprising:
- delivering an explosive composition capable of generating CO2 gas and heat into at least one selected from the one or more injection wells and the one or more production wells drilled into the oil layer, the explosive composition comprising a fuel component, an oxidizer component, and a nitrogen containing organic compound, the fuel component is one or more of a carbon powder and a hydrocarbon-based compound;
- delivering an acid through one or more injection wells drilled into the aqueous layer to acidify the aqueous layer;
- sealing the petroleum reservoir in a manner to confine pressure build-up within the petroleum reservoir;
- and
- detonating the explosive composition.
A method to increase petroleum production from an oil well drilled into a petroleum reservoir having an oil layer and an aqueous layer having one or more of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions present, comprising:
- delivering an acid into the aqueous layer through one or more injection wells drilled into the aqueous layer;
- delivering one or more of an alkali carbonate or an alkali earth carbonate and a nitrogen containing organic compound into the aqueous layer through one or more injection wells drilled into the aqueous layer;
- sealing the oil well in a manner to substantially confine an increase in pressure within the petroleum reservoir,
- wherein delivering the acid into the aqueous later is performed before the one or more alkali carbonate or alkali earth carbonate into the aqueous layer, and the amount of acid delivered is such that the molar concentration of H+ ions in the aqueous layer is about two times or more concentrated than the sum of the molar concentrations of Ca2+- and Mg2+ ions present in the aqueous layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.