Mobil Oil Corporation

James L Wilson

Paul S Northrop

A method for recovering connate fluids (e.g. oil) from a low permeability subterranean reservoir (e.g. diatomite) through a single wellbore. Upper and lower intervals are fractured from the wellbore that the fractured intervals only partially overlap, thereby leaving a partial, natural barrier formed of random-spaced, low permeable areas along the interface between the fractured intervals. This partial barrier improves the sweep efficiency of a drive fluid (e.g. water) which is injected into the lower fractured interval by forcing it to spread outward into the reservoir before it is flows through the upper fractured interval. The drive fluid is injected at approximately the same rate as that at which the fluids are produced so that displacement of oil occurs primarily due to imbibition.

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Bakersfield, CA, United States of America

James L Wilson