METHOD FOR THE IN SITU RECOVERY OF HEAVY OIL FROM A SUBTERRANEAN DEPOSIT

摘要

A method for extracting bitumen from a subterranean oil sand deposit including: drilling a portion of the deposit; fragmenting the drilled deposit; drilling of the fragmented deposit to allow for flooding, wherein one or more wells are drilled to provide access to the deposit and retrieval of extracted bitumen, to form a drilled fragmented deposit; flooding the drilled fragmented deposit with a first flood volume of fluid to permit the first flood volume of fluid to admix with the fragmented first portion, to re lease heavy oil from any inert material so that the heavy oil floats within the first flood volume of fluid in the drilled fragmented deposit to form a flooded first portion; recovering the heavy oil; and repeating the above for each additional portions.

主权项

1. An in situ method for extracting heavy oil from a subterranean deposit, wherein the subterranean deposit comprises 2 or more portions, the method comprising:
a) drilling the subterranean deposit to prepare the subterranean deposit for fragmentation, wherein at least one hole is drilled in a first portion to provide a void space within the first portion and to form a drilled first portion; b) fragmenting the drilled first portion to maximize the fragmentation of the first portion thereby forming a fragmented first portion; c) drilling of the fragmented first portion to prepare the fragmented first portion for flooding, wherein one or more wells are drilled to provide for access and retrieval, thereby forming a drilled fragmented first portion; d) flooding the drilled fragmented first portion with a first flood volume of fluid to permit the first flood volume of fluid to admix with the fragmented first portion, to release heavy oil from any inert material so that the heavy oil floats within the first flood volume of fluid in the drilled fragmented first portion thereby forming a flooded first portion; e) recovering the heavy oil; and f) repeating steps a)-e) for each of a second or more portions.