Texaco Inc.

Margaret A Hight

Wann-Sheng Huang

Alfred Brown

Marc F Fontaine

Yick M Shum

An oil recovery process employing a well pattern having a horizontal well located along each of the four sides of a substantially rectangular well pattern, a vertical injection well located at the center of the well pattern, and four vertical infill wells located midway between the central injection well and the four corners of the rectangular well pattern. Steam is initially injected through the central injection well and production taken at the four infill walls. After the injection of about 0.5 to about 1.0 pore volumes of steam through the central injection well, central injection is converted to water, the infill production wells are converted to steam injection, and production is taken from the horizontal wells.

Steamflood process employing horizontal and vertical wells

The invention is a well pattern containing at least one substantially horizontal production well approximately located on and parallel to an axis running between two substantially vertical production wells with the horizontal well having a length equal to about 30% to about 60% of the distance between the two vertical production wells.

Patterns having horizontal and vertical wells

The invention is a method of recovering hydrocarbons from an underground formation by employing a modified 5 spot or 9 spot well pattern which contains a substantially vertical central well and four substantially horizontal wells, each having one end located relatively near the center of a substantially rectangular well pattern and the other ends located relatively near each of the corners of the well pattern. Preferably, the well pattern will also contain four substantially vertical corner wells located approximately at the four corners of the substantially rectangular modified 5 spot or 9 spot well pattern.

Patterns of horizontal and vertical wells for improving oil recovery

The disclosed invention is a method of recovering hydrocarbons through parallel horizontal wells by use of steam and water injection. Steam is injected into two parallel horizontal wells to stimulate the formation and then the second horizontal well is converted to a production well. About the time of steam breakthrough at the second well, the steam injection at the first well is converted to water injection, production is suspended from the second well, and steam is injected through the second and third wells. After a suitable period of stimulation time, the third well is converted to a producing well, steam injection is continued through the second well, and water injection is continued through the first well.

Parallel horizontal wells

The invention is a method of recovering hydrocarbons from an underground formation by employing modified 7 spot well patterns which contain six substantially vertical corner wells forming a substantially hexagonal well pattern and six substantially horizontal wells located within the hexagonal well pattern running between each of the vertical corner wells and the center of the well pattern. Preferably, the modified 7 spot pattern will also contain a substantially vertical central well located relatively near the center of the substantially hexagonal well pattern. Another embodiment contains six substantially vertical corner wells forming a substantially hexagonal well pattern, a substantially vertical central well and six sets of three horizontal wells, each set of three horizontal wells forming a substantially Y-shaped pattern.

Modified 7 spot patterns of horizontal and vertical wells for improving

The invention uses two vertical wells and a horizotal well located within the underground formation extending between the two vertical wells. A thermal fluid is injected into the formation through the first vertical well. Hydrocarbons and other fluids are produced from the horizontal well through a first perforated interval located near the first vertical well. After depleting this area of the formation, the first perforated interval is closed off and the process is repeated for successively perforated intervals of the horizontal well, all of which are farther from the first vertical well than the preceding perforated intervals.

Producing hydrocarbons through successively perforated intervals of a

The disclosed invention is a pattern for recovering hydrocarbons by employing modified inverted 5 spot, modified inverted 9 spot and modified inverted 13 spot well patterns which contain pairs of horizontal wells substituted for the vertical wells drilled at the four corners of the well patterns.

Horizontal wells at corners of vertical well patterns for improving oil

The disclosed invention is a method of recovering hydrocarbons by employing a modified 9 spot well pattern which contains a vertical central well, four vertical corner injection wells and four horizontal wells as the side wells in the pattern. The horizontal side wells are aligned on axes perpendicular to the substantially rectangular boundaries of the modified 9 spot well pattern or aligned on the axes between the four corner injection wells.

The disclosed invention is a method of recovering hydrocarbons by employing a seven well pattern comprising five horizontal production wells and two vertical injection wells. Four of the horizontal wells form the four sides of a substantially rectangular pattern with the fifth horizontal well aligned on a diagonal running between two opposite corners of the substantially rectangular pattern formed by the first four horizontal wells. Two vertical injection wells are approximately located near the center of the two substantially triangular patterns formed by the five horizontal wells.

The disclosed invention is a method of recovering hydrocarbons from an underground formation by employing modified inverted 9 spot and modified inverted 13 spot well patterns which contain substantially horizontal wells completed between the substantially vertically corner and side wells of the invention well patterns.

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Houston, TX, United States of America

Margaret A Hight