Texaco Inc.

Bp Corporation North America Inc.

The Standard Oil Company

Bp Exploration Operating Company Limited

Deutsche Texaco Aktiengesellschaft

Charles A Christopher

Walter H Carter

Robert G Pindell

Ray Wydrinski

Thomas Jefferson

Paul J Brunner

Ian Ralph Collins

Karl-Heinz Grodde

Betty J Felber

Abdus Satter

Martha S Doster

Alvin O Clauset, Jr

Harry Frampton

Folkert Paul Visser

Alton J Nute

A method for the detection of a carbon dioxide leak from a plugged well extending from a surface of the earth to penetrate a subterranean formation which contains carbon dioxide by logging a collection chamber positioned in the plugged well.

Method for detecting fluid leakage from a subterranean formation

A method of recovering hydrocarbons from a porous subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formation comprising the steps of: a) feeding to at least on reverse osmosis unit of a desalination assembly a high salinity water feed stream having a total dissolved solids content (total salinity) of at least 10,000 ppm; b) driving a portion of the high salinity water feed stream across a membrane in the reverse osmosis unit of the desalination assembly at a pressure above the osmotic pressure of the high salinity water feed stream while excluding at least a portion of the dissolved solids from crossing said membrane to produce a treated low salinity water product stream having a total salinity of less than 5,000 ppm and a concentrated waste brine stream wherein the hydrostatic head exerted by the high salinity water feed stream on the feed side of the membrane provides at least a major component of the pressure required to overcome the osmotic pressure; c) injecting the low salinity water product stream into the hydrocarbon-bearing formation from an injection well; d) displacing the hydrocarbons with the low salinity water product stream toward an associated production well; and e) recovering hydrocarbons from the formation via the production well.

Desalination method

A method for the detection of a fluid leak from a plugged well extending from a surface of the earth to penetrate a subterranean formation which contains fluid by logging a collection chamber positioned in the plugged well.

A method is disclosed in which the production of petroleum is improved or reinstated in formations that have been partially depleted by primary recovery techniques or where the communication between the injection well and the production well has been restricted by the swelling of water sensitive clays in the formation. In this method an aqueous fluid comprising polysaccharide in sufficient concentration to increase the viscosity of the aqueous fluid, a water soluble quanidine compound and a naturally occurring salt is injected into the formation through an injection well and petroleum and aqueous fluids are produced through a production well.

Method of recovering petroleum from underground formations

A method for sampling a fluid, as a multi-phase chemical product as liquid chemical tracers from a well in a field of wells comprising basically (1) injecting a sample of the liquid from the well through a plurality of valves, as solenoid valves on a plurality of liquid containers, and (2) controlling the well liquids responsive to a timing switch, as a stepping switch, through the valves into the liquid sample containers to be filled one after another, periodically, and consecutively from the well in a prearranged order for providing an improved method that is more accurate and more precise.

Method for sampling a fluid from a well

An automatic multi-phase well fluid sampler comprises an inlet solenoid valve means on each of a plurality of sample containers for receiving multi-phase well fluid such as a produced oil-water fluid from one of a plurality of wells, and each of the inlet valve means being responsive to a timing and stepping switch means for precisely filling its sample container periodically, in consecutive order, from the same well for providing an improved well sampler system that is more accurate, more precise, more readily adjustable, less complex, discharges less waste oil that damages the environment from the single well, and that indicates the arrival of the multi-phase well fluid at the production well from an injection well and/or the arrival of various chemical concentrations thereof thereafter.

Time interval automatic well multi-phase fluid sampler

Highly conductive zones of subterranean formations are treated with aqueous fluids containing gel-forming amounts of water-soluble basic lignins. Suitable treating fluids contain about 2 to about 8 wt. % sodium hydroxide solution. The lignin solutions gel within the formation due to reactivity with oil-water and/or the rock matrix. Alternately, following the injection of the gel-forming fluids, acidic gas is injected to cause gel formation.

Method for sweep improvement utilizing gel-forming lignins

An adapter for a sensitive viscometer. It provides increased drag at low shear rates to increase the accuracy. There is an inverted cup shaped rotor that cooperates with an annular shaped stationary container for the fluid to be measured. The annular shape of the container provides reaction surfaces with the fluid on both the inner and outer surfaces of the rotor. And, there is a reservoir in the stationary container with an overflow edge, so that the quantity of fluid to be measured is accurately metered.

Adapter for a sensitive viscometer

Fresh water solutions of pectic materials are injected into high permeability zones in the subterranean reservoir wherein said materials upon contact with brine solutions form thick gels for the purpose of reducing the permeability of these high permeability zones thereby improving the vertical conformance efficiency of flooding operations within the reservoir.

Method for plugging high permeability zones in subterranean reservoirs

Method for imparting superior viscosity to an aqueous polysaccharide solution comprises prehydrating polysaccharide in fresh and deionized water. The viscosity imparted to the final aqueous solution by this method is greater than the viscosity of an aqueous polysaccharide solution initially hydrated in hard water. Alternatively, the polysaccharide solution in fresh water may be used alone or diluted with water containing inorganic ions.

Imparting superior viscosity to aqueous polysaccharide solutions

The specification discloses a process for recovering oil from a subterranean reservoir which process utilizes a thickened flooding liquid containing polysaccharide B-1459. In the process the polysaccharide B-1459 is imparted with superior viscosity by first prehydrating it with fresh or deionized water before mixing with another aqueous component, for example brine water containing large amounts or inorganic ions, that is, hard water. The invention comprises the polysaccharide B-1459 which has been prehydrated in the fresh or deionized aqueous medium and then mixed with hard water. The process for imparting viscosity to polysaccharide B-1459 is an improvement over the prior art in that a higher viscosity is obtained while using the same amount of polysaccharide that has been obtained by hydrating the polysaccharide in hard or brine water initially.

Oil recovery process using improved thickened aqueous flooding liquids

In a subterranean reservoir, a strata or zone of high permeability as compared to other stratas of the reservoir may be plugged by forming a solid gel in situ within the highly permeable strata. The gel plug is formed by injecting a colloidal silica suspension into the strata which is in a liquid state and contacting the suspension in situ with a surfactant. Upon mixing with the surfactant, the colloidal silica suspension forms a gel which effectively plugs the highly permeable zone blocking further fluid flow through the zone.

Method for oil recovery improvement

In a subterranean reservoir containing both petroleum and water interspersed, the petroleum may be preferentially produced by injecting into one well penetrating the reservoir a slug of fluid comprising hydrocarbon solvent, colloidal silica, water and a polymeric material followed by a driving fluid comprising water to force the reservoir fluids into another well penetrating the reservoir where they are produced.

Growing community of inventors

Broken Arrow, OK, United States of America

Charles A Christopher