The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 29, 1988
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1986
Ricardo L Cardenas, Houston, TX (US);
Robert B Alston, Missouri City, TX (US);
Texaco Inc., White Plains, NY (US);
Abstract
Our invention concerns a method for treating a well completed in a subterranean petroleum-containing formation which will improve the rate at which steam can be injected into the formation for a steam push-pull or steam drive oil recovery method. This preconditioning process is applied to formations exhibiting very limited steam receptivity because the formation contains high oil viscosity and has high oil saturation and is completely liquid filled. The method involves injecting a mixture of a non-condensable oil-insoluble gas such as nitrogen and an oil soluble gas such as carbon dioxide all in the gaseous phase into the formation at a controlled rate which will avoid permanently fracturing the formation and also avoid the immediate formation of an oil bank due to dissolution of the injected oil soluble gaseous fluid into the oil. Ideally by controlling the injection rate, the gaseous mixture first displaces water from the flow channels and then carbon dioxide slowly dissolves in the oil while nitrogen remains in the flow channels. Steam injection can then be applied to the formation without the previously experienced loss in steam injectivity.