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US 3,945,679 AGranted
Subterranean oil shale pyrolysis with permeating and consolidating steps
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorsPhilip J. Closmann, Gary Drinkard, Evan H. Street, Charles C. Templeton, Min Jack Tham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In producing shale oil by circulating hot fluid into and out of a rubble-containing cavern within a subterranean oil shale, plugging is avoided by permeating a portion of oil shale, consolidating a permeated portion, inflowing fluid outside the consolidated portion, and outflowing fluid from within the consolidated portion so the fluid is filtered through the consolidated portion.
Claims4
In a process for producing shale oil by circulating hot fluid into and out of a rubble-containing cavern within a subterranean oil shale formation, the improvement comprising:
- forming a permeable mass of rubble in and around a portion of the cavern;
- consolidating a portion of said rubble into a substantially integral permeable structure by treating it with an intragranular cementforming sand consolidating fluid;
- flowing hot fluid into the cavern at a location outside said permeable structure;
- and
- flowing fluid out of the cavern from within said permeable structure so that the outflowing fluid is filtered through that structure.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.