United States Patent [w]
Herbolzheimer et al.
[54] SLURRIFIED RESERVOIR HYDROCARBON RECOVERY PROCESS
[75] Inventors: Eric Herbolzheimer, Watchung; Paul M. Chaikin, Pennington, both of N.J.
[73] Assignee: Exxon Research and Engineering
Company, Florham Park, N.J.
[21] Appl. No.: 630,954
[22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1996
[51] Int. CI.6 E21B 43/40; E21C 41/24
[52] U.S. CI 299/4; 299/7; 166/275
[58] Field of Search 166/268, 245,
166/275, 52; 299/3, 4, 7, 9
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,407,003 10/1968 Durie 299/4
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US005823631A
[ii] Patent Number: 5,823,631 [45] Date of Patent: Oct. 20, 1998
4,212,353 7/1980 Hall 299/7 X
4,234,232 11/1980 Smith et al 299/7 X
4,362,212 12/1982 Schulz 166/263 X
4,398,769 8/1983 lacoby 299/4
4,437,706 3/1984 lohnson 299/7
Primary Examiner—Roger J. Schoeppel
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Jay Simon
[57] ABSTRACT
Hydrocarbons trapped in solid media, such as bitumen in tar sands may be recovered from deep formations by relieving the stress of the overburden and causing the formation to flow from an injection well to a production well, for example, by fluid injection, recovering a tar sand/water mixture from the production well, separating the bitumen and reinjecting the remaining sand in a water slurry.
12 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
