Artificial rain to support water flooding in remote oil fields
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsMohammed Badri AlOtaibi, Dong kyu Cha, Ali Abdallah Al-Yousef
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Abstract
Systems and methods for supplying water to a hydrocarbon-containing formation may include generating artificial rain in the proximity of the formation and collecting the artificial rain in one or more collectors. Following collection, the artificial rain may be transferred from the one or more collectors to an underground water reservoir. The artificial rain may then be combined with an aqueous fluid to give a wellbore fluid, which may then be transferred or injected into the wellbore.
Claims26
A method of supplying water to a hydrocarbon-containing formation, comprising:
- generating artificial rain proximal to the hydrocarbon-containing formation;
- collecting the artificial rain in one or more collectors;
- transferring the artificial rain from the one or more collectors to an underground water reservoir;
- combining the artificial rain with an aqueous fluid to give a wellbore fluid;
- and
- transferring the wellbore fluid to the hydrocarbon-containing formation.
A method for recovering hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon-containing formation, the method comprising:
- generating artificial rain proximal to the hydrocarbon-containing formation;
- collecting the artificial rain in one or more collectors;
- transferring the artificial rain from the one or more collectors to an underground water reservoir;
- mixing the artificial rain with an aqueous fluid to provide a wellbore fluid;
- injecting the aqueous wellbore fluid into the hydrocarbon-containing formation at an injection well;
- displacing hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon-containing formation;
- and
- recovering the hydrocarbons at a production well.
A system for supplying water to a hydrocarbon-containing formation, comprising:
- one or more rainwater collectors;
- and
- an underground water reservoir that is fed by the one or more collectors and is connected to an injection well, where the injection well is fluidly connected to the hydrocarbon-containing formation;
- wherein the system is configured such that water is transferred underground from the underground water reservoir to the injection well.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.