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US 7,338,924 B2Granted
Oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion
AssigneeExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
InventorRamesh Varadaraj
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion (O/W/O) comprising a first oil-in-water emulsion dispersed in a second oil, and a method of preparing the same. The O/W/O emulsion can be used as a drive fluid in an enhanced oil recovery process. The O/W/O emulsion of this invention may also be used as a lubricant, and has the beneficial property of being resistant to shear forces.
Claims5
A method for recovering hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing an oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion;
- (b) injecting said oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion into a subterranean formation;
- (c) displacing hydrocarbons from said subterranean formation to at least one producing well, wherein the oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion is used as a drive fluid;
- and
- (d) recovering hydrocarbons from the at least one producing well.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.