Methods and apparatus for heating oil production reservoirs

An oil production system to produce oil from a viscous reservoir, comprising:

• at least one production well;
• an injection well;
• and
• a heating system functionally associated with the at least one production well, the heating system having at least one electrical heating well adapted to direct power from a power supply at surface to the reservoir to heat the reservoir, the at least one electrical heating well having a controller connected to the power input;
• an electrical ground connected to each of the at least one production well;
• and
• an output power line extending from the controller into each of at least one electrical heating well to heat the reservoir.

A method of producing oil from a reservoir of viscous crude comprising:

• supplying heat to the reservoir via a plurality of electrical heating wells;
• injecting fluid into the reservoir;
• and
• pumping oil from the reservoir from a production well, the plurality of electrical heating wells being positioned substantially around the production well.

An oil production system, comprising:

• an exhaust gas processing system to purify exhaust gases before injection into an injection well;
• an injection system to deliver gas from the exhaust gas processing system to a reservoir via the injection well;
• an oil production system to produce crude oil from the reservoir after the injection system delivers fluid to the reservoir;
• and
• a fuel gas generator for extracting natural gas from the crude oil under production, the natural gas being useable as fuel for an engine utilized in the inert gas oil production system.