Recovery method heats oil sands
Hop Corp. will experiment with a new heat recovery method to extract oil from oil sands in California's Kern River Field. The concept involves placing a segment of heavy oil sand on a hot plate, turning on the heat, and catching the oil that streams out. The field contains an estimated 3 billion bbl of oil, with gravity of 13. Reservoir engineers believe they can recover one billion barrels of the oil with expansion of conventional steamflooding operations. The hot plate approach will involve drilling a well 4 to 5 ft in diam. to a depth of 500 ft, bottoming beneath the producing sands. The hole will be enlarged on bottom to create a chamber approximately 10 ft and 25 ft in diam. From the chamber, horizontal wells will be drilled under the oil sands out to a distance of 250 ft. The holes will be cased, with perforations on the bottom side of the casing except within 100 ft of the central well. Steam will be piped underground through an accessory well, then distributed into the oil sands through the radial wells. Oil will be produced through the radial wells into a contained sump and then pumped out to the surface. Two major benefits are expected in reservoirs that are producible by steam methods: less use of steam to recover reserves, and recovery of an increased percentage of the oil in a shorter period of time.
- OSTI ID:
- 6248441
- Journal Information:
- Drilling Contract.; (United States), Journal Name: Drilling Contract.; (United States) Vol. 35:11; ISSN DRCOA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CALIFORNIA
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FEDERAL REGION IX
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RECOVERY
RESOURCES
STEAM INJECTION
THERMAL RECOVERY
USA
WELLS