VISCOUS OIL RECOVERY USING EMULSIONS

摘要

The present invention is directed to a method of generating a basic water-in-oil emulsion for use in recovering hy-drocarbons from a subterranean formation. The emulsion may be used to displace hydrocarbons from the formation. The emul-sions used are 'basic' in the sense that they do not have added surfactants and are not solid-stabilized. The emulsions are made us-ing a hydrocarbon having at least one of the following properties: (i) greater than five weight percent (wt%) asphaltene content, (ii) greater than two wt% sulfur content, and (iii) less than 22 dyne/cm interfacial tension between the hydrocarbon liquid and the aqueous liquid.