Process and apparatus for coupled electromagnetic and acoustic stimulation of crude oil reservoirs using pulsed power electrohydraulic and electromagnetic discharge
First Claim
1. A process for recovering a desired constituent of a fluid from at least one porous zone of a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
- (a) generating an electrical pulsed discharge in a first borehole at a distance from the at least one porous zone and propagating an electromagnetic wave into the formation at a first time, said electromagnetic wave reaching the at least one porous zone at a time substantially equal to the first time and inducing ultrasonic vibrations within said at least one porous zone;
(b) propagating at a second time an acoustic wave into the formation, said acoustic wave arriving at said at least one porous zone at a time substantially equal to the first time and combining with said ultrasonic vibrations thereby enhancing the mobility of previously immobile fluid in the at least one porous zone;
(c) recovering a fluid including the mobilized fluid from a producing well in the at least one porous zone to give a recovered fluid; and
(d) using at least one process selected from gravity separation, fractionation, cyclone separation, membrane separation, solvent extraction, cryogenic separation, liquefaction, and pyrolysis to obtain the desired constituent from the recovered fluid
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Accused Products
Abstract
Pulsed power sources are installed in one or more wells in the reservoir interval. The pulse sources include (1) an electrohydraulic generator that produces an intense and short lived electromagnetic pulse that travels at the speed of light through the reservoir, and an acoustic pulse from the plasma vaporization of water placed around the source that propagates through the reservoir at the speed of sound in the reservoir and (2) an electromagnetic generator that produces only an intense and short lived electromagnetic pulse that travels at the speed of light through the reservoir. The combination of electrohydraulic and electromagnetic generators in the reservoir causes both the acoustic vibration and electromagnetically-induced high-frequency vibrations occur over an area of the reservoir where stimulation is desired. Single generators and various configurations of multiple electrohydraulic and electromagnetic generators stimulate a volume of reservoir and mobilize crude oil so that it begins moving toward a producing well. The method can be performed in a producing well or wells, an injector well or wells, or special wells drilled for the placement of the pulsed power EOR devices. The method can be applied with other EOR methods such as water flooding, CO2 flooding, surfactant flooding, diluent flooding in heavy oil reservoirs. The recovered formation fluids may be separated into various constituents.
66 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A process for recovering a desired constituent of a fluid from at least one porous zone of a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
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(a) generating an electrical pulsed discharge in a first borehole at a distance from the at least one porous zone and propagating an electromagnetic wave into the formation at a first time, said electromagnetic wave reaching the at least one porous zone at a time substantially equal to the first time and inducing ultrasonic vibrations within said at least one porous zone;
(b) propagating at a second time an acoustic wave into the formation, said acoustic wave arriving at said at least one porous zone at a time substantially equal to the first time and combining with said ultrasonic vibrations thereby enhancing the mobility of previously immobile fluid in the at least one porous zone;
(c) recovering a fluid including the mobilized fluid from a producing well in the at least one porous zone to give a recovered fluid; and
(d) using at least one process selected from gravity separation, fractionation, cyclone separation, membrane separation, solvent extraction, cryogenic separation, liquefaction, and pyrolysis to obtain the desired constituent from the recovered fluid - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification