Method of heating an oil shale formation
First Claim
1. A method of heating an oil shale formation to produce fluid hydrocarbons comprisingradiating RF electromagnetic energy into the oil shale formation for a predetermined first time interval from a first borehole which penetrates said oil shale formation,producing fluid hydrocarbons, when available, during said first time interval from a second borehole penetrating said oil shale formation a predetermined distance from said first borehole,radiating RF electromagnetic energy into said oil shale formation during a predetermined second time interval from said second borehole,producing fluid hydrocarbons during said second time interval from said first borehole.
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Abstract
A method of heating an oil shale formation to produce shale oil includes radiating RF energy into the oil shale formation for a predetermined first time interval from a first borehole which penetrates said oil shale formation. Shale oil is produced when available during said first time interval from a second borehole penetrating said oil shale formation which is a predetermined distance from the first borehole. During a predetermined second time interval, RF energy is again radiated into the oil shale formation from the second borehole while shale oil is produced from the first borehole during the second time interval.
358 Citations
5 Claims
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1. A method of heating an oil shale formation to produce fluid hydrocarbons comprising
radiating RF electromagnetic energy into the oil shale formation for a predetermined first time interval from a first borehole which penetrates said oil shale formation, producing fluid hydrocarbons, when available, during said first time interval from a second borehole penetrating said oil shale formation a predetermined distance from said first borehole, radiating RF electromagnetic energy into said oil shale formation during a predetermined second time interval from said second borehole, producing fluid hydrocarbons during said second time interval from said first borehole.
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3. A method of heating an oil shale formation having a plurality of boreholes traversing said shale oil formation for producing shale oil comprising radiating RF energy into the oil shale formation from a predetermined first group of boreholes during a first time interval,
producing shale oil, when available, in a second group of boreholes, where the boreholes of the second group are alternately interspersed between the boreholes of the first group of boreholes, radiating RF energy into the oil shale formation during a predetermined second time interval from boreholes in the second group of boreholes, and producing fluid hydrocarbons during said second time interval from boreholes in the second group of boreholes.
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5. A method of heating an oil shale formation having a plurality of boreholes traversing said formation to produce shale oil comprising
radiating the oil shale formation with RF energy from within each borehole of a first group of boreholes during a first group of time intervals and producing shale oil in the boreholes of the first group of boreholes during a second group of time intervals, said time intervals of the first group and the second group are alternately interspersed with each other, radiating the shale oil formation with RF energy from within a second group of boreholes during time intervals in said second group of time intervals, and producing shale oil from said oil shale formation during the time intervals of said first group of time intervals.
Specification