Alberta Research Council Incorporated

Alberta Innovates-technology Futures

Shrivastava, Vijay

Singhal, Ashok

Turta, Alex

Wassmuth, Fred

Alex Turta

Conrad Ayasse

Ashok Singhal

Gary L Bunio

Fred Wassmuth

Steve Sim

Malcolm Greaves

Blaine F Hawkins

Vijay Shrivastava

A method for recovering natural gas from a group of subterranean zones containing natural gas, including injecting an amount of a displacing gas into a first subterranean zone, producing a first produced gas from the first subterranean zone, collecting an amount of the first produced gas wherein the quality of the collected first produced gas is higher than or equal to a threshold production quality for the first produced gas, injecting an amount of the first produced gas into a second subterranean zone wherein the quality of the injected first produced gas is higher than or equal to a threshold injection quality for the first produced gas, producing a second produced gas from the second subterranean zone, and collecting an amount of the second produced gas wherein the quality of the collected second produced gas is higher than or equal to a threshold production quality for the second produced gas.

Method for recovery of natural gas from a group of subterranean zones

A modified toe-to-heel waterflooding (TTHW) process is provided for recovering oil from a reservoir in an underground formation. After establishing the conventional TTHW waterflood, the process includes placing a chemical blocking agent at the watered out producing toe portion of the horizontal leg of the production well to create a blockage in the producing toe portion and to create a new producing toe portion in an open portion of the horizontal leg adjacent the blockage through which most of the production takes place. Production is then continued through the new producing toe portion and the open portion of the horizontal leg of the production well. These blocking and producing steps can be continued to progressively block producing toe portions in a direction toward the vertical pilot portion of the production well.

Toe-to-heel waterflooding with progressive blockage of the toe region

A well configuration is provided comprising an injection well ( ) completed relatively high in an oil reservoir ( ) and a production well ( ) completed relatively low in the reservoir ( ). The production well has a horizontal leg ( ) oriented generally perpendicularly to a generally linear and laterally extending, upright combustion front propagated from the injection well ( ). The leg ( ) is positioned in the path of the advancing front. Oil upgrading catalyst has been emplaced along the horizontal leg. The production well ( ) is maintained open, thereby providing a low pressure sink which induces the front to advance along the leg. The hot combustion gases react with the commingled oil over the catalyst to provide in situ upgrading.

Oilfield in situ hydrocarbon upgrading process

In an underground oil reservoir, an injection well is completed low in the reservoir and a production well is provided having a horizontal leg completed relatively high in the reservoir and a vertical leg completed low in the reservoir. Water is injected with the vertical leg open and the horizontal leg closed, so that a displacement front advances in an under-riding manner between the wells and oil is produced through the vertical leg. Once the water break-through in the vertical leg occurs, it is closed and the horizontal leg is opened. A rising, horizontal, gravity-stable displacement front then advances upwardly toward the horizontal leg, through which oil is produced. The open horizontal leg acts as a low pressure sink to induce the horizontal displacement front to advance up toward it. This two-stage process is characterized by a good vertical and lateral sweep. In a slightly modified version, water is injected with the vertical leg closed and the horizontal leg open so that a gravity-stable displacement front advances both laterally and vertically with a relatively upright position of a displacement front. In this version (one stage process) the process is also characterized by a good vertical and lateral sweep.

Toe-to-heel oil recovery process

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Calgary, Canada

Alex Turta