Method and apparatus for improved recovery of oil from porous, subsurface deposits (targevcir oricess)

A method for recovery of oil from deep, porous, sub-surface formations:

• a) mining a vertical shaft through the entire depth of said formation,
• b) mining and drilling a plurality of horizontal rectangular grids of drift and bore holes outward from said shaft at sequential levels in and aligned with the dip and strike of said formation, each sequential pair of girds providing upper and lower boundaries for one interval of said formation,
• c) applying a super heated pressurized oil vapor through a lower grid of a pair to heat the interval adjacently above.
• d) simultaneously applying hot, pressurized flue gas through an upper grid of a pair to force oil downward in the interval adjacently below,
• e) recovering heated flowable oil mixed with condensed super heated pressurized oil vapor from the interval of said formation through the lower grid of the pair,
• f) recycling portions of said recovered oil as super heated oil vapor for application to said interval through said lower grid of a pair;
• wherein said rectangular grids are drilled at at least 50 foot vertical intervals within said formation and are used sequentially from the top of the formation to the bottom to extract oil from each successive interval of formation, the lower grid of one interval becoming the upper grid of the next interval down.

A method for recovery of oil from porous sub-surface formations comprising:

• a) mining a vertical shaft through said formation,
• b) mining and drilling an upper horizontal rectangular grid of drift and bore holes outward from said shaft,
• c) mining and drilling a lower horizontal rectangular grid of drift and bore hole outward from said shaft
• d) applying a first hot, pressurized, condensable fluid through alternate bore holes of said lower grid to heat said formation,
• e) applying a second hot, pressurized, non-condensable fluid through said upper grid to heat said formation and force oil downward,
• f) recovering heated, flowable oil mixed with said first hot, pressurized, condensable fluid through said lower grid,
• wherein said upper and lower grids are oriented in a parallel relationship relative to the dip and strike of said sub-surface formation with said drifts aligned with the dip and said bore holes aligned with the strike, and wherein each grid comprises at least one drift extending substantially horizontally from said shaft and a plurality of bore holes extending into said formation from and perpendicular to said drift and wherein said first hot pressurized fluid is super heated crude oil vapor and said second hot pressurized fluid is flue gas, said method further comprising:
• g) first applying said flue gas to said formation through said upper grid thereby heating an initial area of said formation and producing a first quantity of crude oil therefrom,
• h) collecting said first quantity of crude oil, separating a fraction thereof and super heating said fraction to a super heated vapor state,
• i) applying said super heated crude oil vapor to said formation through alternating bore holes of said lower grid to heat said formation while simultaneously applying flue gas to said formation through said upper grid, whereby said flue gas provides an expanding heat chest in an upper portion of said formation and said super heated crude oil vapor condenses in said formation and mixes with in situ crude oil thereby heating said crude oil and reducing its viscosity whereby said crude oil and entrained condensate is recovered through alternating bore holes of said lower grid, said expanding heat chest serving to drive in situ crude oil downward in said formation toward said lower grid, and
• j) separating a fraction of said recovered crude oil for continued generation of super heated crude oil vapor applied through said lower grid.

A method for recovery of oil from deep, porous, sub-surface formations comprising:

• a) mining a vertical shaft through the entire depth of a formation,
• b) mining and drilling a plurality of horizontal rectangular grids of drift and bore holes outward from said shaft at sequential levels in and aligned with the dip and strike of said formation, each sequential pair of grids providing upper and lower boundaries for one interval of said formation,
• c) applying a first hot, pressurized, condensable fluid through a lower grid of a pair to heat the interval adjacently above,
• d) applying a second hot, pressurized, non-condensable fluid through an upper grid of a pair to force oil downward in the interval adjacently below,
• e) recovering heated flowable oil mixed with said condensed first fluid from the interval of said formation through the lower grid of pair,
• f) separating said recovered oil, and
• g) recycling portions of said recovered oil;
• wherein said rectangular grids are drilled at at least 50 foot vertical intervals within said formation and are used sequentially from the top of said formation to the bottom to extract oil from each successive interval of formation, the lower grid of one interval becoming the upper grid of the next interval downward, and further wherein each of said grids comprises at least one drift mined along the dip of said formation and a plurality of substantially horizontally extending bore holes drilled into said formation perpendicular to said drift and along the strike of said formation, the method further comprising:
• h) applying said hot, pressurized condensable fluid to said formation through alternating bore holes of said lower grid, and
• i) collecting produced crude oil through bore holes intermediate said alternating bore holes,
• wherein the application of said fluid through said alternating bore holes produces pressure sinks in said formation corresponding to the location of said intermediate bore holes whereby in situ crude oil is caused to migrate to said pressure sinks for collection through said intermediate bore holes.

A method for production of oil from a steeply sloping porous sub-surface formation comprising:

• a) mining a vertical shaft from the surface through said formation to a lower level thereof,
• b) mining a single drift under said formation parallel to and upwardly along the dip of said formation,
• c) drilling a plurality of substantially horizontal bore holes along and perpendicular to said drift into said formation and parallel to the strike of said formation,
• d) injecting a hot, pressurized, non-condensable fluid into said formation through said bore holes at an up dip location along said drift,
• e) recovering an initial flow of crude oil from said up dip bore holes,
• f) super heating said initial flow of crude oil and injecting said super heated crude oil into said formation through bore holes at a down dip location along said drift, and
• g) recovering produced crude oil from bore holes intermediate said up dip location and said down dip locations along said drift,
• whereby said hot, pressurized, non-condensable fluid produces a heat chest in an upper level of said formation which migrates down dip as a pressure front through said formation and whereby said super heated crude oil injected at said down dip location heats in situ crude by conduction and condenses in said crude thereby reducing the viscosity of said crude, said reduced viscosity and said pressurized heat chest combining to force said crude oil out of said formation.