Utilization of microwave technology in enhanced oil recovery process for deep and shallow applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9341050-B2
Application number	US-201313950852-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2013
Priority date	Jul 25, 2012
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

A method and system for treating a portion of a hydrocarbon-bearing formation of a crude oil reservoir containing heavy hydrocarbons using a microwave enhanced heavy hydrocarbon recovery system includes forming a horizontal injection well having an injection horizontal run, forming a horizontal microwave source well having a microwave source horizontal run, forming a horizontal production well having a production horizontal run, introducing a treatment fluid into the crude oil reservoir through the horizontal injection well, introducing a microwave antenna having a microwave emitter into the horizontal microwave source well, introducing electrical power to the microwave emitter such, forming a microwave energy field which reduces the viscosity of the heavy hydrocarbons and forms a production fluid forms, and extracting the production fluid through the horizontal production well. The injection horizontal run is positioned below both the microwave source horizontal run and the production horizontal run.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for treating a portion of a hydrocarbon-bearing formation of a crude oil reservoir containing heavy hydrocarbons using a microwave enhanced heavy hydrocarbon recovery system, the process of heavy hydrocarbon recovery comprising the steps of:
forming a horizontal injection well that is defined by a horizontal injection well bore wall that extends from a surface to below a lower boundary of the crude oil reservoir, that is operable to permit fluid communication between the surface and the crude oil reservoir, and that is operable to permit the introduction of a treatment fluid into the crude oil reservoir, where a portion of the horizontal injection well is an injection horizontal run that has a casing along the horizontal injection well bore wall, and where the casing along the horizontal injection well bore wall is operable to permit fluid communication between the horizontal injection well and the crude oil reservoir;
forming a horizontal microwave source well that is defined by a horizontal source well bore wall that extends from the surface to the lower boundary of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, that is operable to permit communication between the surface and the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and that is operable to permit the introduction of microwave energy into the crude oil reservoir, where a portion of the horizontal microwave source well is a microwave source horizontal run that has a casing along the horizontal source well bore wall that extends proximate to the lower boundary, and where the casing along the horizontal source well bore wall is operable to permit energy communication between the horizontal microwave source well and the crude oil reservoir;
forming a horizontal production well that is defined by a horizontal production well bore wall that extends from the surface into the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, that is operable to permit fluid communication between the surface and the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and that is operable to permit the extraction of a production fluid from the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, where a portion of the horizontal production well is a production horizontal run that has a casing along the horizontal production well bore wall, and where the casing along the horizontal production well bore wall is operable to permit fluid communication between the horizontal production well and the hydrocarbon-bearing formation;
introducing a treatment fluid into the crude oil reservoir through the horizontal injection well such that the treatment fluid passes into the portion of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation to be treated, where the treatment fluid comprises an aqueous solution with a miscible solvent for the heavy hydrocarbons;
introducing a microwave antenna having a microwave emitter into the horizontal microwave source well such that the microwave emitter is located in the microwave source horizontal run and such that the microwave emitter is operable to direct microwave energy towards the portion of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation to be treated, wherein the horizontal microwave source well is a separate from the horizontal injection well and the horizontal production well;
introducing electrical power to the microwave emitter such that microwave energy is directed towards the portion of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation to be treated, such that a microwave energy field forms that envelopes the portion of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation to be treated, such that the viscosity of the heavy hydrocarbons located within the microwave energy field is reduced, and such that the production fluid forms within the microwave energy field, where the production fluid comprises the heavy hydrocarbons with reduced viscosity and the treatment fluid; and
extracting the production fluid from the hydrocarbon-bearing formation through the horizontal production well;
where the injection horizontal run is positioned below both the microwave source horizontal run and the production horizontal run, and the microwaves source run is positioned between the in injection horizontal run and the production horizontal run.

2. The method of treatment of claim 1 further comprising the steps of introducing an electrical submersible pump into the horizontal production well such that the ESP is located in a non-horizontal portion of the horizontal production well and operating the electrical submersible pump such that production fluid is extracted from the hydrocarbon-bearing formation.

3. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the miscible solvent of the heavy hydrocarbons is selected from the group consisting of air, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, ethane, propane, normal butane, liquidified petroleum gas (LPG) and combinations thereof.

4. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the introduction of electrical power is such that water present in the microwave energy field is converted into steam.

5. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the introduction of electrical power is such that the miscible solvent of the heavy hydrocarbon present in the microwave energy field is converted into a supercritical fluid.

6. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the introduction of electrical power is such that stress fracturing occurs in at least a portion of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation enveloped by the microwave energy field.

7. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the introduction of electrical power is such that light hydrocarbons form from the heavy hydrocarbons with reduced viscosity in the microwave energy field and such that the production fluid also comprises light hydrocarbons.

8. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the microwave emitter directs microwave energy towards the injection horizontal run and where the introduction of electrical power is such that the microwave energy field formed envelopes at least a portion of the injection horizontal run.

9. The method of treatment of claim 1 where the microwave emitter directs microwave energy towards the production horizontal run and where the introduction of electrical power is such that the microwave energy field formed envelopes at least a portion of the production horizontal run.

10. A microwave enhanced heavy hydrocarbon recovery system for recovering heavy hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon-bearing formation of a crude oil reservoir, the microwave enhanced heavy oil recovery system comprising:
a horizontal injection well that is defined by a horizontal injection well bore wall that extends from a surface to below a lower boundary of the crude oil reservoir, that is operable to permit fluid communication between the surface and the crude oil reservoir, and that is operable to permit the introduction of a treatment fluid into the crude oil reservoir, where a portion of the horizontal injection well is an injection horizontal run that has a casing along the horizontal injection well bore wall, and where the casing along the horizontal injection well bore wall is operable to permit fluid communication between the horizontal injection well and the crude oil reservoir;
a horizontal microwave source well that is defined by a horizontal source well bore wall that extends from the surface to the lower boundary of the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, that is operable to permit communication between the surface and the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and that is operable to permit the introduction of microwave energy into the crude oil reservoir, where a portion of the horizontal microwave source well is a microwave source horizontal run that has a casing along the horizontal source well bore wall that extends proximate to the lower boundary, and where the casing along the horizontal sour

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Al-Buraik Khaled Abdullah

Classifications

• E21B43/2401

  by means of electricity · CPC title

• C09K8/592

  Compositions used in combination with generated heat, e.g. by steam injection · CPC title

• C09K8/58 Primary

  Compositions for enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons, i.e. for improving the mobility of the oil, e.g. displacing fluids · CPC title

• E21B43/16 Primary

  Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons · CPC title

• E21B43/305

  comprising at least one inclined or horizontal well · CPC title