Chevron U.s.a. Inc.

James Dunlavey

Gunther Hans Dieckmann

Michal Mieczyslaw Okoniewski

Cesar Ovalles

Damir Pasalic

Donald Kuehne

Pedro Vaca

Michael John Campbell

Kathleen Judith Miller

Embodiments include drilling a wellbore in a hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and the wellbore includes a radio frequency antenna destination portion that is configured to receive a radio frequency antenna; forming a low dielectric zone in the hydrocarbon-bearing formation proximate to the radio frequency antenna destination portion with a cavity based process or a squeezing based process; positioning the radio frequency antenna into the radio frequency antenna destination portion such that the radio frequency antenna is proximate to the low dielectric zone; dielectric heating the hydrocarbon-bearing formation with the radio frequency antenna such that the low dielectric zone increases dissipation of energy from the radio frequency antenna into the hydrocarbon-bearing formation; and extracting hydrocarbons from the heated hydrocarbon-bearing formation. The material has a dielectric constant of less than or equal to 20, a loss tangent of less than or equal to 0.4, and a porosity of less than or equal to 5%.

Low dielectric zone for hydrocarbon recovery by dielectric heating

A method of making a subsurface antenna which has an assymetric radiation pattern. The assymetric radiation pattern radiates electromagnetic waves unequally into two regions.

Method of employing a subsurface antenna in two regions

A subsurface antenna is designed for use below the surface of the Earth. In some configurations the antenna is a dipole antenna, which can be used for radio frequency heating of an oil-bearing formation.

Subsurface antenna for radio frequency heating

Provided herein are embodiments for extracting oil from an oil-bearing formation. An embodiment of a method includes heating a first portion of the formation with radio frequency energy generated by a radio frequency generator electrically coupled to an antenna. The antenna is positioned within a wellbore and located within the first portion to heat the first portion to a minimum temperature of about 160&#xb0; F. The radio frequency generator delivers power in a range from about 50 kilowatts to about 2 Megawatts, and a power per unit length of antenna is in a range from about 0.5 kW/m to 5 kW/m. The method includes extracting the oil from the first portion after heating to create void space for steam injection. The method also includes injecting steam into the first portion to heat a second portion of the formation adjacent to the first portion and extracting the oil from the second portion.

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Bakersfield, CA, United States of America

James Dunlavey