This application claims priority from Canadian Patent Application 2,972,203 filed Jun. 29, 2017 entitled CHASING SOLVENT FOR ENHANCED RECOVERY PROCESSES.
The present disclosure relates generally to the recovery of hydrocarbons. More specifically, the disclosure relates to methods for optimizing solvent use and reducing the solvent volume used per unit of hydrocarbon production in solvent-dominated processes for recovering bitumen and heavy oil from underground reservoirs.
This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art that may be associated with the present disclosure. This discussion aims to provide a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as an admission of prior art.
Modern society is greatly dependent on the use of hydrocarbon resources for fuels and chemical feedstock. Hydrocarbons are generally found in subsurface formations that can be termed “reservoirs.” Removing hydrocarbons from the reservoirs depends on numerous physical properties of the subsurface formations, such as the permeability of the rock containing the hydrocarbons, the ability of the hydrocarbons to flow through the subsurface formations, and the proportion of hydrocarbons present, among other things. Easily harvested sources of hydrocarbons are dwindling, leaving less accessible sources to satisfy future energy needs. As the prices of hydrocarbons increase, the less accessible sources become more economically attractive.
Recently, the harvesting of oil sands to remove heavy oil has become more economical. Hydrocarbon removal from oil sands may be performed by several techniques. For example, a well can be drilled in an oil sand reservoir and steam, hot gas, solvents, or a combination thereof, can be injected to release the hydrocarbons. The released hydrocarbons may be collected by wells and brought to the surface.
At the present time, solvent-dominated recovery processes (SDRPs) are not commonly used as commercial recovery processes to produce highly viscous oil. Solvent-dominated means that the injectant comprises greater than 50 percent (%) by mass of solvent or that greater than 50% of the produced oil's viscosity reduction is obtained by chemical solvation rather than by thermal means. Highly viscous oils are produced primarily using thermal methods in which heat, typically in the form of steam, is added to the reservoir.
Cyclic solvent-dominated recovery processes (CSDRPs) are a subset of SDRPs. A CSDRP may be a non-thermal recovery method that uses a solvent to mobilize viscous oil by cycles of injection and production. One possible laboratory method for roughly comparing the relative contribution of heat and dilution to the viscosity reduction obtained in a proposed oil recovery process is to compare the viscosity obtained by diluting an oil sample with a solvent to the viscosity reduction obtained by heating the sample.
In a CSDRP, a solvent composition may be injected through a well into a subterranean formation, causing pressure to increase. Next, the pressure is lowered and reduced-viscosity oil is produced to the surface of the subterranean formation through the same well through which the solvent was injected. Multiple cycles of injection and production may be used. CSDRPs may be particularly attractive for thinner or lower-oil-saturation reservoirs. In such reservoirs, thermal methods utilizing heat to reduce viscous oil viscosity may be inefficient due to excessive heat loss to the overburden and/or underburden and/or reservoir with low oil content.
References describing specific CSDRPs include: Canadian Patent No. 2,349,234 (Lim et al.); G. B. Lim et al., “Three-dimensional Scaled Physical Modeling of Solvent Vapour Extraction of Cold Lake Bitumen,” The Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 35(4), pp. 32-40 (April 1996); G. B. Lim et al., “Cyclic Stimulation of Cold Lake Oil Sand with Supercritical Ethane,” SPE Paper 30298 (1995); U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,141 (Allen et al.); and M. Feali et al., “Feasibility Study of the Cyclic VAPEX Process for Low Permeable Carbonate Systems,” International Petroleum Technology Conference Paper 12833 (2008).
The family of processes within the Lim et al. references describes a particular SDRP that is also a CSDRP. These processes relate to the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen from subterranean reservoirs using cyclic injection of a solvent in the liquid state which vaporizes upon production.
With reference to
In a SDRP, one of the key metrics to measure the efficiency of the process is solvent intensity (solvent volume used per unit of hydrocarbon production), which may also be expressed as a solvent to oil ratio (ratio of solvent injected to oil produced), similar to the steam to oil ratio used in thermal recovery processes. In a CSDRP, solvent volumes injected grow cycle over cycle, and the efficiency of the process is reduced. Solvents can also vary in price and availability. Therefore, efficient and effective use and recovery of solvents are key to the economics and robustness of a SDRP.
The present disclosure provides methods for optimizing solvent use and reducing solvent intensity in CSDRP. In some embodiments, the methods include injecting a solvent composition into an underground reservoir at a pressure above a liquid/vapor phase change pressure of the solvent composition; injecting a chaser into the reservoir at a pressure above the liquid/vapor phase change pressure of the solvent composition; allowing the solvent composition to mix with hydrocarbons in the reservoir and at least partially dissolve into the hydrocarbons to produce a solvent/hydrocarbon mixture; reducing the pressure in the reservoir below the liquid/vapor phase change pressure of the solvent composition thereby flowing at least a fraction of the solvent/hydrocarbon mixture from the reservoir; and repeating these steps as required. In other embodiments, the chaser may comprise between 1% and 80% of the total injected volume at any given cycle, wherein “total injected volume” is understood to mean the aggregate volume of solvent composition and chaser injected during a given cycle. The ratio of chaser volume to the total injected volume may increase, decrease or remain the same over consecutive cycles.
The chaser may replace part of the solvent to be injected in CSDRP to help reduce the solvent use, restore or maintain the reservoir pressure, and also to push the solvent further into the reservoir for better mixing with oil. The chaser can be water, gas, or any other non-hydrocarbon fluid. The chaser can be wholly or partially obtained from the same operation of the CSDRP, or derived from other commercial operations (e.g. cyclic steam stimulation, steam-assisted gravity drainage, etc.), or a different source that is readily available on site. For example, produced water from CSDRP, disposal water at elevated temperature from the thermal operations, flue gas, or any other sources that contain one or more components of water, C1, CO2, N2, etc. may provide sources of chaser agents.
The foregoing has broadly outlined the features of the present disclosure so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features will also be described herein.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent from the following description, appending claims and the accompanying drawings, which are briefly described below.
It should be noted that the figures are merely examples and no limitations on the scope of the present disclosure are intended thereby. Further, schematics are generally not drawn to scale, but are drafted for purposes of convenience and clarity in illustrating various aspects of the disclosure. Certain features and components herein may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic form and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in the interest of clarity and conciseness. When referring to the figures described herein, the same reference numerals may be referenced in multiple figures for the sake of simplicity.
To promote an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the features illustrated in the drawings and no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is hereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications, and any further applications of the principles of the disclosure as described herein are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure relates. For the sake of clarity, some features not relevant to the present disclosure may not be shown in the drawings.
At the outset, for ease of reference, certain terms used in this application and their meanings as used in this context are set forth. To the extent a term used herein is not defined below, it should be given the broadest definition persons in the pertinent art have given that term as reflected in at least one printed publication or issued patent. Further, the present techniques are not limited by the usage of the terms shown below, as all equivalents, synonyms, new developments, and terms or techniques that serve the same or a similar purpose are considered to be within the scope of the present claims.
As one of ordinary skill would appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name only. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus, should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to.”
A “hydrocarbon” is an organic compound that primarily includes the elements of hydrogen and carbon, although nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, metals, or any number of other elements may be present in small amounts. Hydrocarbons generally refer to components found in heavy oil or in oil sands. Hydrocarbon compounds may be aliphatic or aromatic, and may be straight chained, branched, or partially or fully cyclic.
“Bitumen” is a naturally occurring heavy oil material. Generally, it is the hydrocarbon component found in oil sands. Bitumen can vary in composition depending upon the degree of loss of more volatile components. It can vary from a very viscous, tar-like, semi-solid material to solid forms. The hydrocarbon types found in bitumen can include aliphatics, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes. A typical bitumen might be composed of:
In addition, bitumen can contain some water and nitrogen compounds ranging from less than 0.4 wt. % to in excess of 0.7 wt. %. The percentage of the hydrocarbon found in bitumen can vary. The term “heavy oil” includes bitumen as well as lighter materials that may be found in a sand or carbonate reservoir.
“Heavy oil” includes oils which are classified by the American Petroleum Institute (“API”), as heavy oils, extra heavy oils, or bitumens. The term “heavy oil” includes bitumen. Heavy oil may have a viscosity of about 1,000 centipoise (cP) or more, 10,000 cP or more, 100,000 cP or more, or 1,000,000 cP or more. In general, a heavy oil has an API gravity between 22.3° API (density of 920 kilograms per meter cubed (kg/m3) or 0.920 grams per centimeter cubed (g/cm3)) and 10.0° API (density of 1,000 kg/m3 or 1 g/cm3). An extra heavy oil, in general, has an API gravity of less than 10.0° API (density greater than 1,000 kg/m3 or 1 g/cm3). For example, a source of heavy oil includes oil sand or bituminous sand, which is a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen.
The term “viscous oil” as used herein means a hydrocarbon, or mixture of hydrocarbons, that occurs naturally and that has a viscosity of at least 10 cP at initial reservoir conditions. Viscous oil includes oils generally defined as “heavy oil” or “bitumen.” Bitumen is classified as an extra heavy oil, with an API gravity of about 10° or less, referring to its gravity as measured in degrees on the API Scale. Heavy oil has an API gravity in the range of about 22.3° to about 10°. The terms viscous oil, heavy oil, and bitumen are used interchangeably herein since they may be extracted using similar processes.
In-situ is a Latin phrase for “in the place” and, in the context of hydrocarbon recovery, refers generally to a subsurface hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir. For example, in-situ temperature means the temperature within the reservoir. In another usage, an in-situ oil recovery technique is one that recovers oil from a reservoir within the earth.
The term “subterranean formation” refers to the material existing below the Earth's surface. The subterranean formation may comprise a range of components, e.g. minerals such as quartz, siliceous materials such as sand and clays, as well as the oil and/or gas that is extracted. The subterranean formation may be a subterranean body of rock that is distinct and continuous. The terms “reservoir” and “formation” may be used interchangeably.
The term “wellbore” as used herein means a hole in the subsurface made by drilling or inserting a conduit into the subsurface. A wellbore may have a substantially circular cross section or any other cross-sectional shape. The term “well,” when referring to an opening in the formation, may be used interchangeably with the term “wellbore.”
The articles “the,” “a” and “an” are not necessarily limited to mean only one, but rather are inclusive and open ended to include, optionally, multiple such elements.
As used herein, the terms “approximately,” “about,” “substantially,” and similar terms are intended to have a broad meaning in harmony with the common and accepted usage by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter of this disclosure pertains. It should be understood by those of skill in the art who review this disclosure that these terms are intended to allow a description of certain features described and claimed without restricting the scope of these features to the precise numeral ranges provided. Accordingly, these terms should be interpreted as indicating that insubstantial or inconsequential modifications or alterations of the subject matter described and are considered to be within the scope of the disclosure.
“At least one,” in reference to a list of one or more entities should be understood to mean at least one entity selected from any one or more of the entity in the list of entities, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every entity specifically listed within the list of entities and not excluding any combinations of entities in the list of entities. This definition also allows that entities may optionally be present other than the entities specifically identified within the list of entities to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those entities specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) may refer, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including entities other than B); to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including entities other than A); to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other entities). In other words, the phrases “at least one,” “one or more,” and “and/or” are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C,” “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, or C” and “A, B, and/or C” may mean A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, A, B and C together, and optionally any of the above in combination with at least one other entity.
Where two or more ranges are used, such as but not limited to 1 to 5 or 2 to 4, any number between or inclusive of these ranges is implied.
As used herein, the phrases “for example,” “as an example,” and/or simply the terms “example” or “exemplary,” when used with reference to one or more components, features, details, structures, methods and/or figures according to the present disclosure, are intended to convey that the described component, feature, detail, structure, method and/or figure is an illustrative, non-exclusive example of components, features, details, structures, methods and/or figures according to the present disclosure. Thus, the described component, feature, detail, structure, method and/or figure is not intended to be limiting, required, or exclusive/exhaustive; and other components, features, details, structures, methods and/or figures, including structurally and/or functionally similar and/or equivalent components, features, details, structures, methods and/or figures, are also within the scope of the present disclosure. Any embodiment or aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
CSDRP Process Description
During CSDRP, a reservoir may accommodate injected solvent composition and non-solvent fluid (also referred to as “additional injectants” or “non-solvent injectants”) by dilating a reservoir pore space by applying an injection pressure. As illustrated in
The primary mixing mechanism of the solvent with the oil may be dispersive mixing, not diffusion. The solvent composition injected in each cycle may replace the volume of previously recovered fluid and may add additional fluid to contact previously uncontacted viscous oil. The injection well and the production well may utilize a common wellbore.
While producing hydrocarbon during CSDRP, pressure may be reduced and the solvent composition, any non-solvent injectant, and viscous oil may flow back to the same well in which the solvent and non-solvent injectant were injected, to be produced to the surface of the reservoir as produced fluid. The produced fluid may be a mixture of the solvent composition and viscous oil (herein referred as “solvent/hydrocarbon mixture”). Each instance of solvent injection and production of a solvent/hydrocarbon mixture is considered a CSDRP cycle.
As the pressure in the reservoir falls, the produced fluid rate may decline with time. Production of the produced fluid may be governed by any of the following mechanisms: gas drive via solvent vaporization and native gas exsolution, compaction drive as the reservoir dilation relaxes, fluid expansion, and gravity-driven flow. The relative importance of the mechanisms depends on static properties such as solvent properties, native GOR (Gas to Oil Ratio), fluid and rock compressibility characteristics, and/or reservoir depth. The relative importance of the mechanism may depend on operational practices such as solvent injection volume, producing pressure, and/or viscous oil recovery to-date, among other factors.
CSDRP—Solvent Composition
The solvent may be a light, but condensable, hydrocarbon or mixture of hydrocarbons comprising ethane, propane, butane, or pentane. The solvent may comprise at least one of ethane, propane, butane, pentane, and carbon dioxide. The solvent may comprise greater than 50% C2-C5 hydrocarbons on a mass basis. The solvent may be greater than 50 mass % propane, optionally with diluent when it is desirable to adjust the properties of the injectant to improve performance.
Additional injectants may include CO2, natural gas, C5+ hydrocarbons, ketones, and alcohols. Non-solvent injectants that are co-injected with the solvent may include steam, non-condensable gas, or hydrate inhibitors. The solvent composition may comprise at least one of diesel, viscous oil, natural gas, bitumen, diluent, C5+ hydrocarbons, ketones, alcohols, non-condensable gas, water, biodegradable solid particles, salt, water soluble solid particles, and solvent soluble solid particles.
To reach a desired injection pressure of the solvent composition, a viscosifier and/or a solvent slurry may be used in conjunction with the solvent. The viscosifier may be useful in adjusting solvent viscosity to reach desired injection pressures at available pump rates. The viscosifier may include diesel, viscous oil, bitumen, and/or diluent. The viscosifier may be in the liquid, gas, or solid phase. The viscosifier may be soluble in either one of the components of the injected solvent and water. The viscosifier may transition to the liquid phase in the reservoir before or during production. In the liquid phase, the viscosifiers are less likely to increase the viscosity of the produced fluids and/or decrease the effective permeability of the formation to the produced fluids.
The solvent composition may be as described in Canadian Patent No. 2,645,267 (Chakrabarty, issued Apr. 16, 2013). The solvent composition may comprise (i) a polar component, the polar component being a compound comprising a non-terminal carbonyl group; and (ii) a non-polar component, the non-polar component being a substantially aliphatic substantially non-halogenated alkane. The solvent composition may have a Hansen hydrogen bonding parameter of 0.3 to 1.7 (or 0.7 to 1.4). The solvent composition may have a volume ratio of the polar component to non-polar component of 10:90 to 50:50 (or 10:90 to 24:76, 20:80 to 40:60, 25:75 to 35:65, or 29:71 to 31:69). The polar component may be, for instance, a ketone or acetone. The non-polar component may be, for instance, a C2-C7 alkane, a C2-C7 n-alkane, an n-pentane, an n-heptane, or a gas plant condensate comprising alkanes, naphthenes, and aromatics. For further details and explanation of the Hansen Solubility Parameter System see, for example, Hansen, C. M. and Beerbower, Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, (Suppl. Vol. 2nd Ed), 1971, pp 889-910 and “Hansen Solubility Parameters A User's Handbook” by Charles Hansen, CRC Press, 1999.
The solvent composition may be as described in Canadian Patent No. 2,781,273 (Chakrabarty, issued May 20, 2014). The solvent composition may comprise (i) an ether with 2 to 8 carbon atoms; and (ii) a non-polar hydrocarbon with 2 to 30 carbon atoms. Ether may have 2 to 8 carbon atoms. Ether may be di-methyl ether, methyl ethyl ether, di-ethyl ether, methyl iso-propyl ether, methyl propyl ether, di-isopropyl ether, di-propyl ether, methyl iso-butyl ether, methyl butyl ether, ethyl iso-butyl ether, ethyl butyl ether, iso-propyl butyl ether, propyl butyl ether, di-isobutyl ether, or di-butyl ether. Ether may be di-methyl ether. The non-polar hydrocarbon may a C2-C30 alkane. The non-polar hydrocarbon may be a C2-C5 alkane. The non-polar hydrocarbon may be propane. The ether may be di-methyl ether and the hydrocarbon may be propane. The volume ratio of ether to non-polar hydrocarbon may be 10:90 to 90:10; 20:80 to 70:30; or 22.5:77.5 to 50:50.
The solvent composition may comprise at least 5 mol % of a high-aromatics component (based upon total moles of the solvent composition) comprising at least 60 wt. % aromatics (based upon total mass of the high-aromatics component). As described in Canadian Patent No. 2,900,178 (Wang et al., issued Sep. 6, 2016), one suitable and inexpensive high-aromatics component is gas oil from a catalytic cracker of a hydrocarbon refining process, also known as a light catalytic gas oil (LCGO).
CSDRP—Phase of Injected Solvent
The solvent composition may be injected into the well at a pressure in the underground reservoir above a liquid/vapor phase change pressure such that at least 25 mass % of the solvent enters the reservoir in the liquid phase. At least 50, 70, or even 90 mass % of the solvent may enter the reservoir in the liquid phase. Injection of the solvent composition as a liquid may be preferred for increasing solvent injection pressure. The solvent composition may be injected into the well at rates and pressures such that immediately after completing injection into the well at least 25 mass % of the injected solvent is in a liquid state in the reservoir (e.g., underground).
A fraction of the solvent may be injected in the solid phase in order to mitigate adverse solvent fingering, increase injection pressure, and/or keep the average distance of the solvent closer to the wellbore than in the case of pure liquid phase injection. Less than 20 mass % of the injectant may enter the reservoir in the solid phase. Less than 10 mass % or less than 50 mass % of the solvent may enter the reservoir in the solid phase. Once in the reservoir, the solid phase of the solvent may transition to a liquid phase before or during production to prevent or mitigate reservoir permeability reduction during production.
Injection of the solvent as a vapor may assist uniform solvent distribution along a horizontal well, particularly when variable injection rates are targeted. Vapor injection in a horizontal well may facilitate an upsize in the port size of installed inflow control devices (ICDs) that minimize the risk of plugging the ICDs. Injecting the solvent as a vapor may increase the ability to pressurize the reservoir to a desired pressure by lowering effective permeability of the injected vapor in a formation comprising liquid viscous oil.
A non-condensable gas may be injected into the reservoir to achieve a desired pressure, along with or followed by injection of the solvent. Injecting a primarily non-condensable gas followed by primarily solvent injection (where primarily means greater than 50 mass % of the mixture of non-condensable gas and solvent) may provide a way to maintain the desired injection pressure target. A non-solvent injectant in the vapor phase, such as CO2 or natural gas, may be injected, followed by injection of the solvent composition.
Although a CSDRP may be predominantly a non-thermal process in that heat is not used principally to reduce the viscosity of the viscous oil, the use of heat is not excluded. Heating may be beneficial to improve performance, improve process start-up, or provide flow assurance during production. For start-up, low-level heating (for example, less than 100° C.) may be appropriate. Low-level heating of the solvent prior to injection may also be performed to prevent hydrate formation in tubulars and in the reservoir. Heating to higher temperatures may benefit recovery. Two non-exclusive scenarios of injecting a heated solvent are as follows. In one scenario, vapor solvent would be injected and would condense before it reaches the bitumen. In another scenario, a vapor solvent would be injected at up to 200° C. and would become a supercritical fluid at downhole operating pressure.
CSDRP—Pore Volume
As described in Canadian Patent No. 2,734,170 (Dawson et al., issued Sep. 24, 2013), one method of managing fluid injection in a CSDRP is for the cumulative volume injected over all injection periods in a given cycle (VINJECTANT) to equal the net reservoir voidage (VVOIDAGE) resulting from previous injection and production cycles plus an additional volume (VADDITIONAL), for example approximately 2-15%, or approximately 3-8% of the pore volume (PV) of the reservoir volume associated with the well pattern. In mathematical terms, the volume (V) may be represented by:
VINJECTANT=VVOIDAGE+VADDITIONAL
One way to approximate the net in-situ volume of fluids produced is to determine the total volume of non-solvent liquid hydrocarbon fraction produced (VPRODUCED OIL) and aqueous fraction produced (VPRODUCED WATER) minus the net injectant fractions produced (VINJECTED SOLVENT−VPRODUCED SOLVENT). For example, in the case where 100% of the injectant is solvent and the reservoir contains only oil and water, an equation that represents the net in-situ volume of fluids produced (VVOIDAGE) is:
VVOIDAGE=VOILPRODUCED+VWATERPRODUCED−(VSOLVENTINJECTED−VSOLVENTPRODUCED)
CSDRP—Diluent
In the context of this specification, diluent means a liquid compound that can be used to dilute the solvent and can be used to manipulate the viscosity of any resulting solvent/hydrocarbon mixture. By such manipulation of the viscosity of the solvent/hydrocarbon (and diluent) mixture, the invasion, mobility, and distribution of solvent in the reservoir can be controlled so as to increase viscous oil production.
The diluent is typically a viscous hydrocarbon liquid, especially a C4-C20 hydrocarbon, or mixture thereof, may be locally produced and may be used to thin bitumen to pipeline specifications. Pentane, hexane, and heptane may be components of such diluents. Bitumen itself can be used to modify the viscosity of the solvent, often in conjunction with ethane solvent.
The diluent may have an average initial boiling point close to the boiling point of pentane (36° C.) or hexane (69° C.) though the average boiling point (defined further below) may change with reuse as the mix changes (some of the solvent originating among the recovered viscous oil fractions). More than 50% by volume of the diluent may have an average boiling point lower than the boiling point of decane (174° C.). More than 75% by volume, such as more than 80% by volume or more than 90% by weight of the diluent, may have an average boiling point between the boiling point of pentane and the boiling point of decane. The diluent may have an average boiling point close to the boiling point of hexane (69° C.) or heptane (98° C.), or even water (100° C.).
More than 50% by weight of the diluent (such as more than 75% or 80% by weight or more than 90% by weight) may have a boiling point between the boiling points of pentane and decane. More than 50% by weight of the diluent may have a boiling point between the boiling points of hexane (69° C.) and nonane (151° C.), particularly between the boiling points of heptane (98° C.) and octane (126° C.).
CSDRP—Reservoir Performance
As described in Canadian Patent No. 2,900,179 (Wang et al.), CSDRP performance may further be improved by using a solvent mixture that has multiple components with different saturation pressures at a certain temperature, i.e., the solvent mixture exhibits liquid-vapor phase behavior over a range of pressures, to address drops in reservoir pressure changes that increase bitumen viscosity and reduce bitumen production rates.
The solvent composition may comprise multiple components with different saturation pressures at a certain temperature. The solvent composition may be in a liquid phase upon injection. A viscosity-reducing component (greater than 50 mol %) of the solvent composition, such as propane or dimethyl ether, may remain in the liquid phase during most of the production period, playing its role of reducing the bitumen viscosity. The solvent composition may also include more volatile components (e.g., C1 or C2) that can easily vaporize when production pressure drops, providing additional gas drive to enhance production. To enhance the performance further, the difference between the pressure at which gas exsolution initiates and a lower bound where all or most solvent has been vaporized may be maximized. This may be achieved by replacing a small fraction of the viscosity-reducing component (e.g., 5-20 mol %) with a heavier solvent having higher solubility and lower vapor pressure.
The solvent composition may thus have two components having a difference in vaporization pressure (at the temperature of the reservoir) greater than 200 kPa. The first component may comprise greater than 50 mol % ethane, propane, butane, pentane, heptane, hexane, dimethyl ether, or a combination thereof, based upon total moles of the first component. The first component may comprise between 5 mol % and 30 mol % of hydrocarbons with a molecular weight of at least 58 g/mol, based upon total moles of the first component. The first component may comprise at least 50 mol % diluent, based upon total moles of the first component.
The second component may comprise at least 10 mol % methane, based on total moles of the solvent composition. The second component may have an average molecular weight of less than 33 g/mol. The second component may comprise greater than 50 mol % methane, ethane, carbon dioxide, or a combination thereof, based upon total moles of the second component.
The first component may comprise (i) a polar component, the polar component being a compound comprising a non-terminal carbonyl group; and (ii) a non-polar component, the non-polar component being a substantially aliphatic substantially non-halogenated alkane. The first component may have a Hansen hydrogen bonding parameter of 0.3 to 1.7 and the volume ratio of the polar component to the non-polar component may be 10:90 to 50:50. The polar component may be a ketone or acetone. The non-polar component may be a C2-C7 alkane, a C2-C7 n-alkane, an n-pentane, an n-heptane, or a gas plant condensate comprising alkanes, naphthenes, and aromatics.
The first component may comprise (i) an ether with 2 to 8 carbon atoms; and (ii) a non-polar hydrocarbon with 2 to 30 carbon atoms. The ether may be di-methyl ether, methyl ethyl ether, di-ethyl ether, methyl iso-propyl ether, methyl propyl ether, di-isopropyl ether, di-propyl ether, methyl iso-butyl ether, methyl butyl ether, ethyl iso-butyl ether, ethyl butyl ether, iso-propyl butyl ether, propyl butyl ether, di-isobutyl ether, or di-butyl ether. The non-polar hydrocarbon may be a C2-C30 alkane, a C2-05 alkane, or propane. The volume ratio of the ether to the non-polar hydrocarbon may be 10:90 to 90:10.
Table 1 outlines the operating ranges for certain CSDRPs. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited by such operating ranges.
In Table 1, the options may be formed by combining two or more parameters and, for brevity and clarity, each of these combinations will not be individually listed.
In CSDRP, cycles may grow progressively in length and the volume of solvent needed for efficient recovery increase accordingly as viscous oil is recovered and the well is depleted. In later cycles, large volumes of solvent composition must often be injected to re-pressurize the formation and fill voidage created as a result of reservoir fluid (oil, gas, water, etc.) production. More specifically, as shown in
Solvent Chasing
Solvent use in CSDRP may be optimized to reduce solvent intensity by implementing some aspects of the present disclosure. With reference to
Injecting a chaser 210 during certain CSDRP cycles may assist in pressure maintenance and forcing solvent composition 202 further into the reservoir for enhancing solvent/oil contact and mixing. By reducing solvent use and utilizing instead a more economical substance as chaser 210, CSDRP process economics may be improved.
The target temperature of the chaser 210 may be higher than the initial temperature of the reservoir or, in some embodiments, between 10 and 300° C., or for water, between 10 and 90° C. In some embodiments, the density of the chaser 210 may be greater than the density of the solvent composition 202 at reservoir conditions, preferably >10% greater than the density of the solvent composition 202.
The chaser 210 may be injected at any CSDRP cycle, and may be omitted during one or more intervening cycles. In some embodiments, the chaser 210 may be injected after the second or third CSDRP cycle or when oil sands 206 near the wellbore 204 have been depleted. Injection of solvent composition 202 and chaser 210 can alternate multiple times within a cycle with the first slug of injection being solvent.
In some embodiments, for cycles including chaser injection, the chaser 210 may be injected toward the end of an injection cycle following injection of solvent composition 202 during the same cycle. In this way, the chaser 210 may fill voidage created by the solvent composition 202 permeating increasing volumes within the reservoir and help maintain a desired pressure and penetration of the solvent composition 202. The amount of chaser 210 relative to the solvent composition 202 volume may be any amount, preferably in the range between 1% and 80% in any given cycle. In some embodiments, the amount of chaser 210 injected into the well relative to the solvent composition 202 volume may remain constant and in others it may progressively increase over cycles, or decrease over cycles, or alternate between periods of gradual increase and gradual decrease. Preferably, the chaser 210 may account for between 1% and 10% of the total injected fluid by volume in the first injection cycle including chaser, and gradually increase to a maximum of 80% of the total injected fluid by volume.
As discussed above, one method of managing chaser injection in a CSDRP is for the cumulative volume injected over all injection periods in a given cycle (VINJECTANT) to equal the net reservoir voidage (VVOIDAGE) resulting from previous injection and production cycles plus an additional volume (VADDITIONAL). When use of a chaser is incorporated into the process and VINJECTANT is equal to the sum of the volume of solvent (VSOLVENT) and the volume of chaser (VCHASER), the latter may be represented in mathematical terms by:
VCHASER=VVOIDAJE+VADDITIONAL−VSOLVENT
The chaser 210 may be injected at a pressure above the liquid/vapor change pressure of the solvent composition 202 and, preferably, at a similar or same pressure as the solvent composition, in the range of 1,000-10,000 kPa.
Liquid chaser can be injected into the reservoir using the same injection system as the solvent composition, but one or more separate storage tanks may be used to store the chaser. A gas chaser may benefit from using a compressor and multiphase injection system. A recovered liquid chaser such as water can be separated from the produced solvent/hydrocarbon mixture on the surface by gravity separation and then sent to storage tanks for re-injection. Recovered gas chaser may be mostly produced from the casing and then compressed for re-injection.
For example, as shown in
In some embodiments, the chaser may be derived from a variety of hydrocarbon recovery processes. In embodiments in which water is employed as chaser, the water may be fresh or recycled water, water produced during a CSDRP process (with some make-up water as needed), or disposal water from other processes. For example, water produced during (i) steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) processes; (ii) solvent-assisted SAGD (SA-SAGD) processes; (iii) expanding solvent SAGD (ES-SAGD) processes; (iv) cyclic steam simulation (CSS) processes; or (v) cyclic solvent processes (CSP) may be utilized in an adjacent CSDRP site as chaser 210. In this way, processes and methods according to the present disclosure may be integrated with existing steam-based operations to utilize disposal water. One benefit of doing so is that disposed water may have a temperature higher than the ambient temperature of the reservoir, which can range between 5 and 30° C. in heavy oil reservoirs in Canada. This residual heat may aid the solvent/oil mixing process in CSDRP by reducing the oil viscosity further, as well as potentially mitigating flow assurance issues.
In some embodiments, the chaser 210 may be heated by other means, such as by utilizing residual heat from separation processes already incorporated into CSDRP. In particular, while the oil and chaser 210 (e.g., water) may be separated using gravity-based processes, the remaining solvent/oil mixture may be separated employing processes that involve heating the mixture. Some of this heat may be further employed to heat the chaser 210. In some embodiments, the chaser 210 may have a temperature anywhere between 10 and 300° C., or between 10 and 90° C. for water, when injected into the well. Alternatively, the chaser 210 may have a temperature between 20 and 250° C. above the ambient temperature of the reservoir, or more preferably about 60° C. above the ambient temperature of the reservoir.
One measure of efficiency in CSDRP is the ratio of produced oil volume to injected solvent volume over a time interval, or “oil to injected solvent ratio” (OISR). The time interval may be one complete injection/production cycle. The time interval may be from the beginning of first injection to the present or some other time interval. When the ratio falls below a certain threshold, further solvent composition injection may become uneconomic. OISR is only one measure of solvent efficiency, and those skilled in the art will recognize there are other measures of solvent recovery, such as solvent storage ratio (SSR), percentage loss, volume of unrecovered solvent per volume of recovered oil, or its inverse, the volume of produced oil to volume of lost solvent ratio (OLSR).
Simulations on an exemplary underground reservoir with horizontal wells of commercial scale (i.e., 1000 meters long at 100 meters well spacing) illustrate the benefits of the disclosed methods over conventional CSDRP. The parameters selected to model a reservoir in this study represent a typical heavy oil reservoir with the following properties:
The simulations are intended as an example only, and the disclosed methods may be utilized with a variety of well configurations and sizes, such as different well lengths and spacings, different well layout and vertical separations, as well as different well orientations. In addition, this disclosure contemplates ratios between chaser and total injected volume that may remain constant or vary over cycles, or may range 1 and 80% over any cycle as discussed above.
Three models were simulated and compared. The first model (Case 1) was a CSDRP utilizing pure propane as the solvent composition for all cycles. In the second model (Case 2) was based on injecting water as chaser at the end of injection cycles, starting with cycle 3. The injected water volume was 20% of the total cycle injection volume. Finally, the third model (Case 3) was similar to the second but the water (i.e., chaser) content was increased from 20% of the total cycle injection volume in cycle 3 to 60% in cycle 7 (in 10% increments over each cycle).
Even more advantageously, the OISR for Case 3 shown in
These advantages are further appreciated in
Given the lower operational costs expected from using inexpensive chasers instead of solvent composition to fill voidage in CSDRP cycles, the advantages of the methods disclosed herein are clearly demonstrated. Although not included in these simulations, the advantages over pure solvent composition CSDRP cycles may be expected to be more significant if the chaser is further heated before injection or hot disposal water from another source is used as chaser.
With reference to
By way of example, the following clauses are offered as further description of the present disclosure:
A method for recovering hydrocarbons from an underground reservoir, the method comprising: (a) injecting a solvent composition into the reservoir at a pressure above a liquid/vapor phase change pressure of the solvent composition; (b) injecting a chaser into the reservoir at a pressure above the liquid/vapor phase change pressure of the solvent composition; (c) allowing the solvent composition to mix with the hydrocarbons and at least partially dissolve into the hydrocarbons to produce a solvent/hydrocarbon mixture; (d) reducing the pressure in the reservoir below the liquid/vapor phase change pressure of the solvent composition thereby flowing at last a fraction of the solvent/hydrocarbon mixture from the reservoir; and (e) repeating steps (a) to (d) as required.
The method of embodiment 1, wherein a ratio of the volume of the chaser injected in step (b) to the total injected volume of solvent composition and chaser injected in steps (a) and (b) is between 1% and 80%.
The method of embodiments 1 or 2, wherein step (e) comprises increasing or decreasing the ratio of the volume of the chaser injected in step (b) to the total injected volume of solvent composition and chaser injected in steps (a) and (b).
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the chaser includes one of water, steam, methane, CO2, N2, flue gas or a combination of thereof.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein at least a portion of the chaser is derived from at least one of:
(i) a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process;
(ii) a solvent-assisted SAGD (SA-SAGD) process;
(iii) an expanding solvent SAGD (ES-SAGD) process;
(iv) cyclic steam stimulation (CSS); and
(v) cyclic solvent processes (CSP).
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein reducing the pressure in step (d) further results in flowing at least a portion of the volume of the chaser injected in step (b) from the reservoir thereby producing a recovered chaser.
The method of embodiment 6, wherein step (e) further includes reusing at least a portion of the recovered chaser as the chaser when step (b) is repeated.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the chaser is injected into the reservoir in step (b) at a temperature higher than the initial temperature of the reservoir.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the chaser is injected into the reservoir in step (b) at a temperature between 10 and 90° C.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein the chaser is injected into the reservoir in step (b) at a temperature between 10 and 300° C.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the repeating step (e) is preceded by one or more cycles comprising steps (a), (c) and (d), and omitting step (b).
The method of any one of the embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the chaser is injected at a pressure between 1,000 and 10,000 kPa.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the density of the chaser is greater than the density of the solvent composition at reservoir conditions.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein the density of the chaser is more than 10% greater than the density of the solvent composition at reservoir conditions.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein step (e) comprises reducing an average molecular weight of the solvent composition by at least 10%.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 15, wherein the solvent composition comprises at least 5 mol % of an aromatic species, based upon total moles of the solvent composition.
The method of any one of the embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the solvent composition comprises a first component and a second component that have at least 200 kPa difference in their vaporization pressure at the temperature of the reservoir.
The method of embodiment 17, wherein the second component comprises at least 10 mol % methane, based on total moles of the solvent composition.
The method of embodiment 17, wherein the second component has an average molecular weight of less than 33 g/mol.
The method of any one of embodiments 17 to 19, wherein the first component comprises greater than 50 mol % ethane, propane, butane, pentane, heptane, hexane, dimethyl ether, or a combination thereof, based upon total moles of the first component.
The method of any one of embodiments 17 to 19, wherein the first component comprises between 5 mol % and 30 mol % of hydrocarbons with a molecular weight of at least 58 g/mol, based upon total moles of the first component.
The method of any one of embodiments 17 to 19, wherein the first component comprises at least 50 mol % diluent, based upon total moles of the first component.
The method of any one of embodiments 17 to 22, wherein the second component comprises greater than 50 mol % methane, ethane, carbon dioxide, or a combination thereof, based upon total moles of the second component.
The method of any one of embodiments 17 to 19, wherein the first component comprises:
(i) a polar component, the polar component being a compound comprising a non-terminal carbonyl group; and
(ii) a non-polar component, the non-polar component being a substantially aliphatic substantially non-halogenated alkane;
wherein the first component has a Hansen hydrogen bonding parameter of 0.3 to 1.7; and wherein the first component has a volume ratio of the polar component to the non-polar component of 10:90 to 50:50.
The method of embodiment 24, wherein the polar component is a ketone or acetone.
The method of embodiment 24, wherein the non-polar component is a C2-C7 alkane, a C2-C7 n-alkane, an n-pentane, an n-heptane, or a gas plant condensate comprising alkanes, naphthenes, and aromatics.
The method of any of the embodiments 17 to 19, wherein the first component comprises:
(i) an ether with 2 to 8 carbon atoms; and
(ii) a non-polar hydrocarbon with 2 to 30 carbon atoms.
The method of embodiment 27, wherein the ether is di-methyl ether, methyl ethyl ether, di-ethyl ether, methyl iso-propyl ether, methyl propyl ether, di-isopropyl ether, di-propyl ether, methyl iso-butyl ether, methyl butyl ether, ethyl iso-butyl ether, ethyl butyl ether, iso-propyl butyl ether, propyl butyl ether, di-isobutyl ether, or di-butyl ether.
The method of any one of embodiments 27 or 28, wherein the non-polar hydrocarbon is a C2-C30 alkane, a C2-C5 alkane, or propane.
The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 29, wherein injection in steps (a) and (b) and production of the at least a fraction of solvent/hydrocarbon mixture in step (d) are through a common wellbore.
Advantages of the methods disclosed herein over conventional CSDRP include an increase of solvent utilization and efficiency; reduction of solvent demand and storage, leading to simpler commercial solvent supply logistics and lower operational costs; potential integration with existing CSS operations to reduce CSS costs on disposal water and improve CSDRP performance by utilizing the residual heat of CSS disposal water; and better solvent allocation for faster ramp up of bitumen rate in commercial applications with solvent supply constraints.
Disclosed aspects of the present disclosure may include any combinations of the methods and systems shown in the preceding numbered paragraphs. This is not to be considered a complete listing of all possible aspects, as any number of variations can be envisioned from the description above. It should be understood that the numerous changes, modifications, and alternatives to the preceding disclosure can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The preceding description, therefore, is not meant to limit the scope of the disclosure. Rather, the scope of the disclosure is to be determined only by the appended claims and their equivalents. It is also contemplated that structures and features in the present examples can be altered, rearranged, substituted, deleted, duplicated, combined, or added to each other.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
CA 2972203 | Jun 2017 | CA | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1422204 | Hoover et al. | Jul 1922 | A |
1491138 | Hixon | Apr 1924 | A |
2365591 | Ranney | Dec 1944 | A |
2412765 | Buddrus | Dec 1946 | A |
2813583 | Marx et al. | Nov 1957 | A |
2859818 | Hall et al. | Nov 1958 | A |
2862558 | Dixon | Dec 1958 | A |
2910123 | Elkins et al. | Jan 1959 | A |
2876838 | Williams | Mar 1959 | A |
2881838 | Morse et al. | Apr 1959 | A |
2909224 | Allen | Oct 1959 | A |
3126961 | Craig, Jr. et al. | Mar 1964 | A |
3156299 | Trantham | Nov 1964 | A |
3163215 | Stratton | Dec 1964 | A |
3174544 | Campion et al. | Mar 1965 | A |
3182722 | Reed | May 1965 | A |
3205944 | Walton | Sep 1965 | A |
3221809 | Walton | Dec 1965 | A |
3232345 | Trantham et al. | Feb 1966 | A |
3237689 | Justheim | Mar 1966 | A |
3246693 | Crider | Apr 1966 | A |
3280909 | Closmann et al. | Oct 1966 | A |
3294167 | Vogel | Dec 1966 | A |
3310109 | Marx et al. | Mar 1967 | A |
3314476 | Staples et al. | Apr 1967 | A |
3315745 | Rees, Jr. | Apr 1967 | A |
3322194 | Strubbar | May 1967 | A |
3332482 | Trantham | Jul 1967 | A |
3333632 | Kyte | Aug 1967 | A |
3334687 | Parker | Aug 1967 | A |
3342257 | Jacobs et al. | Sep 1967 | A |
3342259 | Powell | Sep 1967 | A |
3347313 | Matthews et al. | Oct 1967 | A |
3349845 | Holbert et al. | Oct 1967 | A |
3351132 | Dougan et al. | Nov 1967 | A |
3361201 | Howard | Jan 1968 | A |
3363686 | Gilchrist | Jan 1968 | A |
3363687 | Dean | Jan 1968 | A |
3373804 | Glass et al. | Mar 1968 | A |
3379246 | Skylar et al. | Apr 1968 | A |
3379248 | Strange | Apr 1968 | A |
3406755 | Sharp | Oct 1968 | A |
3411578 | Holmes | Nov 1968 | A |
3412793 | Needham | Nov 1968 | A |
3412794 | Craighead | Nov 1968 | A |
3422891 | Alexander et al. | Jan 1969 | A |
3430700 | Satter et al. | Mar 1969 | A |
3441083 | Fitzgerald | Apr 1969 | A |
3454095 | Messenger et al. | Jul 1969 | A |
3454958 | Parker | Jul 1969 | A |
3456721 | Smith | Jul 1969 | A |
3490529 | Parker | Jan 1970 | A |
3490531 | Dixon | Jan 1970 | A |
3507330 | Gill | Apr 1970 | A |
3547192 | Claridge et al. | Dec 1970 | A |
3554285 | Meldau | Jan 1971 | A |
3572436 | Riehl | Mar 1971 | A |
3605888 | Crowson et al. | Sep 1971 | A |
3608638 | Terwiltiger | Sep 1971 | A |
3653438 | Wagner | Apr 1972 | A |
3685581 | Hess et al. | Aug 1972 | A |
3690376 | Zwicky et al. | Sep 1972 | A |
3703927 | Harry | Nov 1972 | A |
3705625 | Whitten et al. | Dec 1972 | A |
3724043 | Eustance | Apr 1973 | A |
3727686 | Prates et al. | Apr 1973 | A |
3759328 | Ueber et al. | Sep 1973 | A |
3768559 | Allen et al. | Oct 1973 | A |
3771598 | McBean | Nov 1973 | A |
3782465 | Bell et al. | Jan 1974 | A |
3782472 | Siess, Jr. | Jan 1974 | A |
3796262 | Allen et al. | Mar 1974 | A |
3804169 | Closmann | Apr 1974 | A |
3805885 | Van Huisen | Apr 1974 | A |
3822747 | Maguire, Jr. | Jul 1974 | A |
3822748 | Allen et al. | Jul 1974 | A |
3823777 | Allen et al. | Jul 1974 | A |
3827495 | Reed | Aug 1974 | A |
3837399 | Allen et al. | Sep 1974 | A |
3837402 | Stringer | Sep 1974 | A |
3838738 | Redford et al. | Oct 1974 | A |
3847219 | Wang et al. | Nov 1974 | A |
3847224 | Allen et al. | Nov 1974 | A |
3872924 | Clampitt | Mar 1975 | A |
3881550 | Barry | May 1975 | A |
3882941 | Pelofsky | May 1975 | A |
3892270 | Lindquist | Jul 1975 | A |
3905422 | Woodward | Sep 1975 | A |
3913671 | Redford et al. | Oct 1975 | A |
3929190 | Chang et al. | Dec 1975 | A |
3931856 | Barnes | Jan 1976 | A |
3941192 | Carlin et al. | Mar 1976 | A |
3945436 | Barry | Mar 1976 | A |
3945679 | Clossmann et al. | Mar 1976 | A |
3946809 | Hagedorn | Mar 1976 | A |
3946810 | Barry | Mar 1976 | A |
3954139 | Allen | May 1976 | A |
3954141 | Allen | May 1976 | A |
3958636 | Perkins | May 1976 | A |
3964546 | Allen | Jun 1976 | A |
3964547 | Hujsak et al. | Jun 1976 | A |
3967853 | Closmann et al. | Jul 1976 | A |
3978920 | Bandyopadhyay et al. | Sep 1976 | A |
3983939 | Brown et al. | Oct 1976 | A |
3993133 | Clampitt | Nov 1976 | A |
3994341 | Anderson et al. | Nov 1976 | A |
3997004 | Wu | Dec 1976 | A |
3999606 | Bandyopadhyay et al. | Dec 1976 | A |
4003432 | Paull et al. | Jan 1977 | A |
4004636 | Brown et al. | Jan 1977 | A |
4007785 | Allen et al. | Feb 1977 | A |
4007791 | Johnson | Feb 1977 | A |
4008764 | Allen | Feb 1977 | A |
4008765 | Anderson et al. | Feb 1977 | A |
4019575 | Pisio et al. | Apr 1977 | A |
4019578 | Terry et al. | Apr 1977 | A |
4020901 | Pisio et al. | May 1977 | A |
4022275 | Brandon | May 1977 | A |
4022277 | Routson | May 1977 | A |
4022279 | Driver | May 1977 | A |
4022280 | Stoddard et al. | May 1977 | A |
4026358 | Allen | May 1977 | A |
4033411 | Goins | Jul 1977 | A |
4037655 | Carpenter | Jul 1977 | A |
4037658 | Anderson | Jul 1977 | A |
4049053 | Fisher et al. | Sep 1977 | A |
4066127 | Harnsberger | Jan 1978 | A |
4067391 | Dewell | Jan 1978 | A |
4068715 | Wu | Jan 1978 | A |
4068717 | Needham | Jan 1978 | A |
4078608 | Allen et al. | Mar 1978 | A |
4079585 | Helleur | Mar 1978 | A |
4084637 | Todd | Apr 1978 | A |
4085799 | Bousaid et al. | Apr 1978 | A |
4085800 | Engle et al. | Apr 1978 | A |
4085803 | Butler | Apr 1978 | A |
4088188 | Widmyer | May 1978 | A |
4099564 | Hutchinson | Jul 1978 | A |
4099568 | Allen | Jul 1978 | A |
4109720 | Allen et al. | Aug 1978 | A |
4114687 | Payton | Sep 1978 | A |
4114691 | Payton | Sep 1978 | A |
4116275 | Butler et al. | Sep 1978 | A |
4119149 | Wu et al. | Oct 1978 | A |
4120357 | Anderson | Oct 1978 | A |
4124071 | Allen et al. | Nov 1978 | A |
4124074 | Allen et al. | Nov 1978 | A |
4127170 | Redford | Nov 1978 | A |
4129183 | Kalfoglou | Dec 1978 | A |
4129308 | Hutchinson | Dec 1978 | A |
4130163 | Bombardieri | Dec 1978 | A |
4133382 | Cram et al. | Jan 1979 | A |
4133384 | Allen et al. | Jan 1979 | A |
4140180 | Bridges et al. | Feb 1979 | A |
4140182 | Vriend | Feb 1979 | A |
4141415 | Wu et al. | Feb 1979 | A |
4144935 | Bridges et al. | Mar 1979 | A |
RE30019 | Lindquist | Jun 1979 | E |
4160479 | Richardson et al. | Jul 1979 | A |
4160481 | Turk et al. | Jul 1979 | A |
4166503 | Hall et al. | Sep 1979 | A |
4174752 | Slater et al. | Nov 1979 | A |
4175618 | Wu et al. | Nov 1979 | A |
4191252 | Buckley et al. | Mar 1980 | A |
4202168 | Acheson et al. | May 1980 | A |
4202169 | Acheson et al. | May 1980 | A |
4207945 | Hall et al. | Jun 1980 | A |
4212353 | Hall | Jul 1980 | A |
4217956 | Goss et al. | Aug 1980 | A |
4223728 | Pegg | Sep 1980 | A |
4228853 | Harvey et al. | Oct 1980 | A |
4228854 | Sacuta | Oct 1980 | A |
4228856 | Reale | Oct 1980 | A |
4246966 | Stoddard et al. | Jan 1981 | A |
4248302 | Churchman | Feb 1981 | A |
4249602 | Burton, III et al. | Feb 1981 | A |
4250964 | Jewell et al. | Feb 1981 | A |
4252194 | Felber et al. | Feb 1981 | A |
4260018 | Shum et al. | Apr 1981 | A |
4262745 | Stewart | Apr 1981 | A |
4265310 | Britton et al. | May 1981 | A |
4270609 | Choules | Jun 1981 | A |
4271905 | Redford et al. | Jun 1981 | A |
4274487 | Hollingsworth et al. | Jun 1981 | A |
4280559 | Best | Jul 1981 | A |
4282929 | Krajicek | Aug 1981 | A |
4284139 | Sweany | Aug 1981 | A |
RE30738 | Bridges et al. | Sep 1981 | E |
4289203 | Swanson | Sep 1981 | A |
4295980 | Motz | Oct 1981 | A |
4296814 | Stalder et al. | Oct 1981 | A |
4300634 | Clampitt | Nov 1981 | A |
4303126 | Blevins | Dec 1981 | A |
4305463 | Zakiewicz | Dec 1981 | A |
4306981 | Blair, Jr. | Dec 1981 | A |
4319632 | Marr, Jr. | Mar 1982 | A |
4319635 | Jones | Mar 1982 | A |
4324291 | Wong et al. | Apr 1982 | A |
4325432 | Henry | Apr 1982 | A |
4326968 | Blair, Jr. | Apr 1982 | A |
4327805 | Poston | May 1982 | A |
4330038 | Soukup et al. | May 1982 | A |
4333529 | McCorquodale | Jun 1982 | A |
4344483 | Fisher et al. | Aug 1982 | A |
4344485 | Butler | Aug 1982 | A |
4344486 | Parrish | Aug 1982 | A |
4345652 | Roque | Aug 1982 | A |
4362213 | Tabor | Dec 1982 | A |
4372385 | Rhoades et al. | Feb 1983 | A |
4372386 | Rhoades et al. | Feb 1983 | A |
4379489 | Rollmann | Apr 1983 | A |
4379592 | Vakhnin et al. | Apr 1983 | A |
4380265 | Mohaupt | Apr 1983 | A |
4380267 | Fox | Apr 1983 | A |
4381124 | Verty et al. | Apr 1983 | A |
4382469 | Bell et al. | May 1983 | A |
4385661 | Fox | May 1983 | A |
4387016 | Gagon | Jun 1983 | A |
4389320 | Clampitt | Jun 1983 | A |
4390062 | Fox | Jun 1983 | A |
4390067 | William | Jun 1983 | A |
4392530 | Odeh et al. | Jul 1983 | A |
4393937 | Dilgren et al. | Jul 1983 | A |
4396063 | Godbey | Aug 1983 | A |
4398602 | Anderson | Aug 1983 | A |
4398692 | Macfie | Aug 1983 | A |
4406499 | Yildirim | Sep 1983 | A |
4407367 | Kydd | Oct 1983 | A |
4410216 | Allen | Oct 1983 | A |
4411618 | Donaldson et al. | Oct 1983 | A |
4412585 | Bouck | Nov 1983 | A |
4415034 | Bouck | Nov 1983 | A |
4417620 | Shafir | Nov 1983 | A |
4418752 | Boyer et al. | Dec 1983 | A |
4423779 | Livingston | Jan 1984 | A |
4427528 | Lindörfer et al. | Jan 1984 | A |
4429744 | Cook | Feb 1984 | A |
4429745 | Cook | Feb 1984 | A |
4431056 | Shu | Feb 1984 | A |
4434851 | Haynes, Jr. et al. | Mar 1984 | A |
4441555 | Shu | Apr 1984 | A |
4444257 | Stine | Apr 1984 | A |
4444261 | Islip | Apr 1984 | A |
4445573 | McCaleb | May 1984 | A |
4448251 | Stine | May 1984 | A |
4450909 | Sacuta | May 1984 | A |
4450911 | Seglin et al. | May 1984 | A |
4450913 | Allen et al. | May 1984 | A |
4452491 | Seglin et al. | Jun 1984 | A |
4453597 | Brown et al. | Jun 1984 | A |
4456065 | Heim et al. | Jun 1984 | A |
4456066 | Shu | Jun 1984 | A |
4456068 | Burrill, Jr. et al. | Jun 1984 | A |
4458756 | Clark | Jul 1984 | A |
4458759 | Isaacs et al. | Jul 1984 | A |
4460044 | Porter | Jul 1984 | A |
4465137 | Sustek, Jr. et al. | Aug 1984 | A |
4466485 | Shu | Aug 1984 | A |
4469177 | Venkatesan | Sep 1984 | A |
4471839 | Snavely et al. | Sep 1984 | A |
4473114 | Bell et al. | Sep 1984 | A |
4475592 | Pachovsky | Oct 1984 | A |
4475595 | Watkins et al. | Oct 1984 | A |
4478280 | Hopkins et al. | Oct 1984 | A |
4478705 | Ganguli | Oct 1984 | A |
4480689 | Wunderlich | Nov 1984 | A |
4484630 | Chung | Nov 1984 | A |
4485868 | Sresty et al. | Dec 1984 | A |
4487262 | Venkatesan et al. | Dec 1984 | A |
4487264 | Hyne et al. | Dec 1984 | A |
4488600 | Fan | Dec 1984 | A |
4488976 | Dilgren et al. | Dec 1984 | A |
4491180 | Brown et al. | Jan 1985 | A |
4495994 | Brown et al. | Jan 1985 | A |
4498537 | Cook | Feb 1985 | A |
4498542 | Eisenhawer et al. | Feb 1985 | A |
4499946 | Martin et al. | Feb 1985 | A |
4501325 | Frazier et al. | Feb 1985 | A |
4501326 | Edmunds | Feb 1985 | A |
4501445 | Gregoli | Feb 1985 | A |
4503910 | Shu | Mar 1985 | A |
4503911 | Harman et al. | Mar 1985 | A |
4508170 | Littmann | Apr 1985 | A |
4513819 | Islip et al. | Apr 1985 | A |
4515215 | Hermes et al. | May 1985 | A |
4516636 | Doscher | May 1985 | A |
4522260 | Wolcott, Jr. | Jun 1985 | A |
4522263 | Hopkins et al. | Jun 1985 | A |
4524826 | Savage | Jun 1985 | A |
4527650 | Bartholet | Jul 1985 | A |
4528104 | House et al. | Jul 1985 | A |
4530401 | Hartman et al. | Jul 1985 | A |
4532993 | Dilgren et al. | Aug 1985 | A |
4532994 | Toma et al. | Aug 1985 | A |
4535845 | Brown et al. | Aug 1985 | A |
4540049 | Hawkins et al. | Sep 1985 | A |
4540050 | Huang et al. | Sep 1985 | A |
4545435 | Bridges et al. | Oct 1985 | A |
4546829 | Martin et al. | Oct 1985 | A |
4550779 | Zakiewicz | Nov 1985 | A |
4556107 | Duerksen et al. | Dec 1985 | A |
4558740 | Yellig, Jr. | Dec 1985 | A |
4565245 | Mims et al. | Jan 1986 | A |
4565249 | Pebdani et al. | Jan 1986 | A |
4572296 | Watkins | Feb 1986 | A |
4574884 | Schmidt | Mar 1986 | A |
4574886 | Hopkins et al. | Mar 1986 | A |
4577688 | Gassmann et al. | Mar 1986 | A |
4579176 | Davies et al. | Apr 1986 | A |
4589487 | Venkatesan et al. | May 1986 | A |
4595057 | Deming et al. | Jun 1986 | A |
4597441 | Ware et al. | Jul 1986 | A |
4597443 | Shu et al. | Jul 1986 | A |
4598770 | Shu et al. | Jul 1986 | A |
4601337 | Lau et al. | Jul 1986 | A |
4601338 | Prats et al. | Jul 1986 | A |
4607695 | Weber | Aug 1986 | A |
4607699 | Stephens | Aug 1986 | A |
4607700 | Duerksen et al. | Aug 1986 | A |
4610304 | Doscher | Sep 1986 | A |
4612989 | Rakach et al. | Sep 1986 | A |
4612990 | Shu | Sep 1986 | A |
4615391 | Garthoffner | Oct 1986 | A |
4620592 | Perkins | Nov 1986 | A |
4620593 | Haagensen | Nov 1986 | A |
4635720 | Chew | Jan 1987 | A |
4637461 | Hight | Jan 1987 | A |
4637466 | Hawkins et al. | Jan 1987 | A |
4640352 | Vanmeurs et al. | Feb 1987 | A |
4640359 | Livesey et al. | Feb 1987 | A |
4641710 | Klinger | Feb 1987 | A |
4645003 | Huang et al. | Feb 1987 | A |
4645004 | Bridges et al. | Feb 1987 | A |
4646824 | Huang et al. | Mar 1987 | A |
4648835 | Esienhawer et al. | Mar 1987 | A |
4651825 | Wilson | Mar 1987 | A |
4651826 | Holmes | Mar 1987 | A |
4653583 | Huang et al. | Mar 1987 | A |
4662438 | Taflove et al. | May 1987 | A |
4662440 | Harmon et al. | May 1987 | A |
4662441 | Huang et al. | May 1987 | A |
4665035 | Tunac | May 1987 | A |
4665989 | Wilson | May 1987 | A |
4667739 | Van Meurs et al. | May 1987 | A |
4679626 | Perkins | Jul 1987 | A |
4682652 | Huang et al. | Jul 1987 | A |
4682653 | Angstadt | Jul 1987 | A |
4685515 | Huang et al. | Aug 1987 | A |
4687058 | Casad et al. | Aug 1987 | A |
4690215 | Roberts et al. | Sep 1987 | A |
4691773 | Ward et al. | Sep 1987 | A |
4694907 | Stahl et al. | Sep 1987 | A |
4696311 | Muiis et al. | Sep 1987 | A |
4697642 | Vogel | Oct 1987 | A |
4699213 | Fleming | Oct 1987 | A |
4700779 | Huang et al. | Oct 1987 | A |
4702314 | Huang et al. | Oct 1987 | A |
4702317 | Shen | Oct 1987 | A |
4705108 | Little et al. | Nov 1987 | A |
4706751 | Gondouin | Nov 1987 | A |
4707230 | Ajami | Nov 1987 | A |
4718485 | Brown et al. | Jan 1988 | A |
4718489 | Hallam et al. | Jan 1988 | A |
4727489 | Frazier et al. | Feb 1988 | A |
4727937 | Shum et al. | Mar 1988 | A |
4739831 | Settlemeyer et al. | Apr 1988 | A |
4753293 | Bohn | Jun 1988 | A |
4756369 | Jennings, Jr. et al. | Jul 1988 | A |
4757833 | Danley | Jul 1988 | A |
4759571 | Stone et al. | Jul 1988 | A |
4766958 | Faecke | Aug 1988 | A |
4769161 | Angstadt | Sep 1988 | A |
4775450 | Ajami | Oct 1988 | A |
4782901 | Phelps et al. | Nov 1988 | A |
4785028 | Hoskin et al. | Nov 1988 | A |
4785883 | Hoskin et al. | Nov 1988 | A |
4787452 | Jennings, Jr. | Nov 1988 | A |
4793409 | Bridges et al. | Dec 1988 | A |
4793415 | Holmes et al. | Dec 1988 | A |
4804043 | Shu et al. | Feb 1989 | A |
4809780 | Shen | Mar 1989 | A |
4813483 | Ziegler | Mar 1989 | A |
4817711 | Jeambey | Apr 1989 | A |
4817714 | Jones | Apr 1989 | A |
4818370 | Gregoli et al. | Apr 1989 | A |
4819724 | Bou-Mikael | Apr 1989 | A |
4828030 | Jennings, Jr. | May 1989 | A |
4828031 | Davis | May 1989 | A |
4828032 | Telezke et al. | May 1989 | A |
4834174 | Vandevier | May 1989 | A |
4834179 | Kokolis et al. | May 1989 | A |
4844155 | Megyeri et al. | Jul 1989 | A |
4846275 | McKay | Jul 1989 | A |
4850429 | Mims et al. | Jul 1989 | A |
4856587 | Nielson | Aug 1989 | A |
4856856 | Phelps et al. | Aug 1989 | A |
4860827 | Lee et al. | Aug 1989 | A |
4861263 | Schirmer | Aug 1989 | A |
4867238 | Bayless et al. | Sep 1989 | A |
4869830 | Konak et al. | Sep 1989 | A |
4874043 | Joseph et al. | Oct 1989 | A |
4877542 | Lon et al. | Oct 1989 | A |
4884155 | Spash | Nov 1989 | A |
4884635 | McKay et al. | Dec 1989 | A |
4886118 | Van Meurs et al. | Dec 1989 | A |
4892146 | Shen | Jan 1990 | A |
4895085 | Chips | Jan 1990 | A |
4895206 | Price | Jan 1990 | A |
4896725 | Parker et al. | Jan 1990 | A |
4901795 | Phelps et al. | Feb 1990 | A |
4903766 | Shu | Feb 1990 | A |
4903768 | Shu | Feb 1990 | A |
4903770 | Friedeman et al. | Feb 1990 | A |
4915170 | Hoskin | Apr 1990 | A |
4919206 | Freeman et al. | Apr 1990 | A |
4926941 | Glandt et al. | May 1990 | A |
4926943 | Hoskin | May 1990 | A |
4928766 | Hoskin | May 1990 | A |
4930454 | Latty et al. | Jun 1990 | A |
4940091 | Shu et al. | Jul 1990 | A |
4945984 | Price | Aug 1990 | A |
4947933 | Jones et al. | Aug 1990 | A |
4961467 | Pebdani | Oct 1990 | A |
4962814 | Alameddine | Oct 1990 | A |
4964461 | Shu | Oct 1990 | A |
4966235 | Gregoli et al. | Oct 1990 | A |
4969520 | Jan et al. | Nov 1990 | A |
4974677 | Shu | Dec 1990 | A |
4982786 | Jennings, Jr. | Jan 1991 | A |
4983364 | Buck et al. | Jan 1991 | A |
4991652 | Hoskin et al. | Feb 1991 | A |
5010953 | Friedman et al. | Apr 1991 | A |
5013462 | Danley | May 1991 | A |
5014787 | Duerksen | May 1991 | A |
5016709 | Combe et al. | May 1991 | A |
5016710 | Renard et al. | May 1991 | A |
5016713 | Sanchez et al. | May 1991 | A |
5024275 | Anderson et al. | Jun 1991 | A |
5025863 | Haines | Jun 1991 | A |
5027898 | Naae | Jul 1991 | A |
5036915 | Wyganowski | Aug 1991 | A |
5036917 | Jennings, Jr. et al. | Aug 1991 | A |
5036918 | Jennings, Jr. et al. | Aug 1991 | A |
5040605 | Showalter | Aug 1991 | A |
5042579 | Glandt et al. | Aug 1991 | A |
5046559 | Glandt | Sep 1991 | A |
5046560 | Teletzke et al. | Sep 1991 | A |
5052482 | Gondouin | Oct 1991 | A |
5054551 | Duerksen | Oct 1991 | A |
5056596 | McKay et al. | Oct 1991 | A |
5058681 | Reed | Oct 1991 | A |
5060726 | Glandt et al. | Oct 1991 | A |
5065819 | Kasevich | Nov 1991 | A |
5083612 | Ashrawi | Jan 1992 | A |
5083613 | Gregoli et al. | Jan 1992 | A |
5085275 | Gondouin | Feb 1992 | A |
5095984 | Irani | Mar 1992 | A |
5099918 | Bridges et al. | Mar 1992 | A |
5101898 | Hong | Apr 1992 | A |
5105880 | Shen | Apr 1992 | A |
5109927 | Supernaw et al. | May 1992 | A |
5123485 | Vasicek et al. | Jun 1992 | A |
5131471 | Duerksen et al. | Jul 1992 | A |
5145002 | McKay | Sep 1992 | A |
5145003 | Duerksen | Sep 1992 | A |
5148869 | Sanchez | Sep 1992 | A |
5152341 | Kasevich et al. | Oct 1992 | A |
5156214 | Hoskin et al. | Oct 1992 | A |
5167280 | Sanchez et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
5172763 | Mohammadi et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
5174377 | Kumar | Dec 1992 | A |
5178217 | Mohammadi et al. | Jan 1993 | A |
5186256 | Downs | Feb 1993 | A |
5197541 | Hess et al. | Mar 1993 | A |
5199488 | Kasevich et al. | Apr 1993 | A |
5199490 | Surles et al. | Apr 1993 | A |
5201815 | Hong et al. | Apr 1993 | A |
5215146 | Sanchez | Jun 1993 | A |
5215149 | Lu | Jun 1993 | A |
5236039 | Edelstein et al. | Aug 1993 | A |
5238066 | Beattie et al. | Aug 1993 | A |
5246071 | Chu | Sep 1993 | A |
5247993 | Sarem et al. | Sep 1993 | A |
5252226 | Justice | Oct 1993 | A |
5271693 | Johnson et al. | Dec 1993 | A |
5273111 | Brannan et al. | Dec 1993 | A |
5277830 | Hoskin et al. | Jan 1994 | A |
5279367 | Osterloh | Jan 1994 | A |
5282508 | Ellingsen et al. | Feb 1994 | A |
5289881 | Schuh | Mar 1994 | A |
5293936 | Bridges | Mar 1994 | A |
5295540 | Djabbarah et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5297627 | Sanchez et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5305829 | Kumar | Apr 1994 | A |
5318124 | Ong et al. | Jun 1994 | A |
5325918 | Berryman et al. | Jul 1994 | A |
5339897 | Leaute | Aug 1994 | A |
5339898 | Yu et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
5339904 | Jennings, Jr. et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
5350014 | McKay | Sep 1994 | A |
5358054 | Bert | Oct 1994 | A |
5361845 | Jamaluddin et al. | Nov 1994 | A |
5377757 | Ng | Jan 1995 | A |
5404950 | Ng et al. | Apr 1995 | A |
5407009 | Butler et al. | Apr 1995 | A |
5411086 | Burcham et al. | May 1995 | A |
5411089 | Vinegar et al. | May 1995 | A |
5411094 | Northrop | May 1995 | A |
5413175 | Edmunds | May 1995 | A |
5414231 | Sato et al. | May 1995 | A |
5417283 | Ejiogu et al. | May 1995 | A |
5431224 | Laali | Jul 1995 | A |
5433271 | Vinegar et al. | Jul 1995 | A |
5449038 | Horton et al. | Sep 1995 | A |
5450902 | Mathews | Sep 1995 | A |
5456315 | Kinsman et al. | Oct 1995 | A |
5458193 | Horton et al. | Oct 1995 | A |
5483801 | Craze | Jan 1996 | A |
5503226 | Wadleigh | Apr 1996 | A |
5511616 | Bert | Apr 1996 | A |
5513705 | Djabbarah et al. | May 1996 | A |
5531272 | Ng et al. | Jul 1996 | A |
5534186 | Walker et al. | Jul 1996 | A |
5542474 | Djabbarah et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5547022 | Juprasert et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5553974 | Nazarian | Sep 1996 | A |
5560737 | Schuring et al. | Oct 1996 | A |
5565139 | Walker et al. | Oct 1996 | A |
5589775 | Kuckes | Dec 1996 | A |
5607016 | Butler | Mar 1997 | A |
5607018 | Schuh | Mar 1997 | A |
5626191 | Greaves et al. | May 1997 | A |
5626193 | Nzekwu et al. | May 1997 | A |
5635139 | Holst et al. | Jun 1997 | A |
5646309 | Hammarberg et al. | Jul 1997 | A |
5650128 | Holst et al. | Jul 1997 | A |
5660500 | Marsden, Jr. et al. | Aug 1997 | A |
5674816 | Loree | Oct 1997 | A |
5677267 | Suarez et al. | Oct 1997 | A |
5682613 | Dinatale | Nov 1997 | A |
5685371 | Richardson et al. | Nov 1997 | A |
5691906 | Togashi et al. | Nov 1997 | A |
5709505 | Williams et al. | Jan 1998 | A |
5713415 | Bridges | Feb 1998 | A |
5720350 | McGuire | Feb 1998 | A |
5725054 | Shayegi | Mar 1998 | A |
5738937 | Baychar | Apr 1998 | A |
5765964 | Calcote et al. | Jun 1998 | A |
5771973 | Jensen | Jun 1998 | A |
5788412 | Jatkar | Aug 1998 | A |
RE35891 | Jamaluddin et al. | Sep 1998 | E |
5803171 | McCaffery et al. | Sep 1998 | A |
5803178 | Cain | Sep 1998 | A |
5813799 | Calcote et al. | Sep 1998 | A |
5823631 | Herbolzheimer et al. | Oct 1998 | A |
5826656 | McGuire et al. | Oct 1998 | A |
5860475 | Ejiogu et al. | Jan 1999 | A |
5899274 | Frauenfeld et al. | May 1999 | A |
5923170 | Kuckes | Jul 1999 | A |
5931230 | Lesage et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
5941081 | Burgener | Aug 1999 | A |
5957202 | Huang | Sep 1999 | A |
5984010 | Elias et al. | Nov 1999 | A |
6000471 | Langset | Dec 1999 | A |
6004451 | Rock et al. | Dec 1999 | A |
6012520 | Yu et al. | Jan 2000 | A |
6015015 | Luft et al. | Jan 2000 | A |
6016867 | Gregoli et al. | Jan 2000 | A |
6016868 | Gregoli et al. | Jan 2000 | A |
6026914 | Adams et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6039116 | Stevenson et al. | Mar 2000 | A |
6039121 | Kisman | Mar 2000 | A |
6048810 | Baychar | Apr 2000 | A |
6050335 | Parsons | Apr 2000 | A |
6056057 | Vinegar et al. | May 2000 | A |
6102122 | de Rouffignac | Aug 2000 | A |
6109358 | McPhee et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6148911 | Gipson et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6158510 | Bacon et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6158513 | Nistor et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6167966 | Ayasse et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6173775 | Elias et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6186232 | Isaccs et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6189611 | Kasevich | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6205289 | Kobro | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6230814 | Nasr et al. | May 2001 | B1 |
6244341 | Miller | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6257334 | Cyr et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6263965 | Schmidt et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6276457 | Moffatt et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6285014 | Beck et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6305472 | Richardson et al. | Oct 2001 | B2 |
6318464 | Mokrys | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6325147 | Doerler et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6328104 | Graue | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6353706 | Bridges | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6357526 | Abdel-Halim et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6405799 | Vallejos et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6409226 | Slack et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6412557 | Ayasse et al. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6413016 | Nelson et al. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6454010 | Thomas et al. | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6484805 | Perkins et al. | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6536523 | Kresnyak et al. | Mar 2003 | B1 |
6554067 | Davies et al. | Apr 2003 | B1 |
6561274 | Hayes et al. | May 2003 | B1 |
6581684 | Wellington et al. | Jun 2003 | B2 |
6588500 | Lewis | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6591908 | Nasr | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6607036 | Ranson et al. | Aug 2003 | B2 |
6631761 | Yuan et al. | Oct 2003 | B2 |
6662872 | Gutek et al. | Dec 2003 | B2 |
6666666 | Gilbert et al. | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6681859 | Hill | Jan 2004 | B2 |
6688387 | Wellington et al. | Feb 2004 | B1 |
6702016 | de Rouffignac et al. | Mar 2004 | B2 |
6708759 | Leaute et al. | Mar 2004 | B2 |
6712136 | de Rouffignac et al. | Mar 2004 | B2 |
6712150 | Misselbrook et al. | Mar 2004 | B1 |
6715546 | Vinegar et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6715547 | Vinegar et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6715548 | Wellington et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6715549 | Wellington et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6719047 | Fowler et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6722429 | de Rouffignac et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6722431 | Karanikas et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6725920 | Zhang et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6729394 | Hassan et al. | May 2004 | B1 |
6729395 | Shahin, Jr. et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6729397 | Zhang et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6729401 | Vinegar et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6732794 | Wellington et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6732795 | de Rouffignac et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6732796 | Vinegar et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6733636 | Heins | May 2004 | B1 |
6736215 | Maher et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6736222 | Kuckes et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6739394 | Vinegar et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6742588 | Wellington et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6742593 | Vinegar et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6745831 | de Rouffignac et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6745832 | Wellington et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6745837 | Wellington et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6755246 | Chen et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6758268 | Vinegar et al. | Jul 2004 | B2 |
6769486 | Lim et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6782947 | de Rouffignac et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6789625 | de Rouffignac et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6794864 | Mirotchnik et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6805195 | Vinegar et al. | Oct 2004 | B2 |
6814141 | Huh et al. | Nov 2004 | B2 |
6877556 | Wittle et al. | Apr 2005 | B2 |
6883607 | Nenniger et al. | Apr 2005 | B2 |
6962466 | Vinegar et al. | Nov 2005 | B2 |
7013970 | Collie et al. | Mar 2006 | B2 |
7056725 | Lu | Jun 2006 | B1 |
7069990 | Bilak | Jul 2006 | B1 |
7272973 | Craig | Sep 2007 | B2 |
7294156 | Chakrabarty et al. | Nov 2007 | B2 |
7322409 | Wittle et al. | Jan 2008 | B2 |
7363973 | Nenniger et al. | Apr 2008 | B2 |
7434619 | Rossi et al. | Oct 2008 | B2 |
7464756 | Gates et al. | Dec 2008 | B2 |
7527096 | Chung et al. | May 2009 | B2 |
7770643 | Daussin | Aug 2010 | B2 |
7918269 | Cavender et al. | Apr 2011 | B2 |
7975763 | Banerjee et al. | Jul 2011 | B2 |
8141636 | Speirs et al. | Mar 2012 | B2 |
8176982 | Gil et al. | May 2012 | B2 |
8215392 | Rao | Jul 2012 | B2 |
8256511 | Boone et al. | Sep 2012 | B2 |
8327936 | Coskuner | Dec 2012 | B2 |
8434551 | Nenniger et al. | May 2013 | B2 |
8455405 | Chakrabarty | Jun 2013 | B2 |
8474531 | Nasr et al. | Jul 2013 | B2 |
8528642 | Boone | Sep 2013 | B2 |
8596357 | Nenniger | Dec 2013 | B2 |
8602098 | Kwan | Dec 2013 | B2 |
8616278 | Boone et al. | Dec 2013 | B2 |
8684079 | Wattenbarger et al. | Apr 2014 | B2 |
8752623 | Sirota et al. | Jun 2014 | B2 |
8770289 | Boone | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8776900 | Nenniger et al. | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8783358 | Critsinelis et al. | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8844639 | Gupta et al. | Sep 2014 | B2 |
8857512 | Nenniger et al. | Oct 2014 | B2 |
8899321 | Dawson et al. | Dec 2014 | B2 |
8985205 | Nenniger | Mar 2015 | B2 |
9103205 | Wright et al. | Aug 2015 | B2 |
9115577 | Alvestad et al. | Aug 2015 | B2 |
9316096 | Bang et al. | Apr 2016 | B2 |
9341049 | Hailey, Jr. et al. | May 2016 | B2 |
9347312 | Vincelette et al. | May 2016 | B2 |
9359868 | Scott | Jun 2016 | B2 |
9394769 | Nenniger | Jul 2016 | B2 |
9488040 | Chakrabarty et al. | Nov 2016 | B2 |
9506332 | Saeedfar | Nov 2016 | B2 |
9644467 | Chakrabarty | May 2017 | B2 |
9739123 | Wheeler et al. | Aug 2017 | B2 |
9809786 | Olson et al. | Nov 2017 | B2 |
9845669 | Miller et al. | Dec 2017 | B2 |
9951595 | Akinlade et al. | Apr 2018 | B2 |
9970282 | Khaledi et al. | May 2018 | B2 |
9970283 | Khaledi et al. | May 2018 | B2 |
10000998 | Chakrabarty et al. | Jun 2018 | B2 |
10041340 | Chakrabarty | Aug 2018 | B2 |
10094208 | Hoier et al. | Oct 2018 | B2 |
10145226 | Yee et al. | Dec 2018 | B2 |
20010009830 | Bachar | Jul 2001 | A1 |
20010017206 | Davidson et al. | Aug 2001 | A1 |
20010018975 | Richardson et al. | Sep 2001 | A1 |
20020029881 | de Rouffignac et al. | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020033253 | de Rouffignac et al. | Mar 2002 | A1 |
20020038710 | Maher et al. | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020040779 | Wellington et al. | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020046838 | Karanikas et al. | Apr 2002 | A1 |
20020056551 | Wellington et al. | May 2002 | A1 |
20020104651 | McClung, III | Aug 2002 | A1 |
20020148608 | Shaw | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20020157831 | Kurlenya et al. | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20030000711 | Gutek et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030009297 | Mirotchnik et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20060231455 | Olsvik et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20080115945 | Lau et al. | May 2008 | A1 |
20080153717 | Pomerleau et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080173447 | Da Silva et al. | Jul 2008 | A1 |
20090288826 | Gray | Nov 2009 | A1 |
20100258308 | Speirs et al. | Oct 2010 | A1 |
20100276140 | Edmunds et al. | Nov 2010 | A1 |
20100276341 | Speirs et al. | Nov 2010 | A1 |
20100276983 | Dunn et al. | Nov 2010 | A1 |
20100282593 | Speirs et al. | Nov 2010 | A1 |
20110229071 | Vincelette et al. | Sep 2011 | A1 |
20110272152 | Kaminsky et al. | Nov 2011 | A1 |
20110272153 | Boone et al. | Nov 2011 | A1 |
20110276140 | Vresilovic et al. | Nov 2011 | A1 |
20110303423 | Kaminsky et al. | Dec 2011 | A1 |
20120234535 | Dawson et al. | Sep 2012 | A1 |
20120285700 | Scott | Nov 2012 | A1 |
20130000896 | Boone | Jan 2013 | A1 |
20130000898 | Boone | Jan 2013 | A1 |
20130025861 | Kift et al. | Jan 2013 | A1 |
20130043025 | Scott | Feb 2013 | A1 |
20130045902 | Thompson et al. | Feb 2013 | A1 |
20130098607 | Kerr | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20130105147 | Scott | May 2013 | A1 |
20130112408 | Oxtoby | May 2013 | A1 |
20130153215 | Scott et al. | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20130153216 | Scott | Jun 2013 | A1 |
20130199777 | Scott | Aug 2013 | A1 |
20130199779 | Scott | Aug 2013 | A1 |
20130199780 | Scott | Aug 2013 | A1 |
20130206405 | Kift et al. | Aug 2013 | A1 |
20130328692 | Johannessen | Dec 2013 | A1 |
20140034305 | Dawson | Feb 2014 | A1 |
20140048259 | Menard | Feb 2014 | A1 |
20140054028 | Little et al. | Feb 2014 | A1 |
20140069641 | Kosik | Mar 2014 | A1 |
20140083694 | Scott et al. | Mar 2014 | A1 |
20140083706 | Scott et al. | Mar 2014 | A1 |
20140096959 | Hocking | Apr 2014 | A1 |
20140144627 | Salazar Hernandez et al. | May 2014 | A1 |
20140174744 | Boone et al. | Jun 2014 | A1 |
20140251596 | Gittins et al. | Sep 2014 | A1 |
20150034555 | Speirs et al. | Feb 2015 | A1 |
20150053401 | Khaledi et al. | Feb 2015 | A1 |
20150083413 | Salazar et al. | Mar 2015 | A1 |
20150107833 | Boone et al. | Apr 2015 | A1 |
20150107834 | Shen et al. | Apr 2015 | A1 |
20150144345 | Bilozir et al. | May 2015 | A1 |
20160061014 | Sood et al. | Mar 2016 | A1 |
20160153270 | Chen et al. | Jun 2016 | A1 |
20170051597 | Akiya et al. | Feb 2017 | A1 |
20170130572 | Yuan et al. | May 2017 | A1 |
20170210972 | Williamson et al. | Jul 2017 | A1 |
20170241250 | Singh et al. | Aug 2017 | A1 |
20180030381 | Olson et al. | Feb 2018 | A1 |
20180073337 | Park et al. | Mar 2018 | A1 |
20180265768 | Williamson | Sep 2018 | A1 |
20190002755 | Wang et al. | Jan 2019 | A1 |
20190032460 | Khaledi et al. | Jan 2019 | A1 |
20190032462 | Motahhari et al. | Jan 2019 | A1 |
20190063199 | Doraiswamy et al. | Feb 2019 | A1 |
20190119577 | Witham et al. | Apr 2019 | A1 |
20190120043 | Gupta et al. | Apr 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0603924 | Aug 1960 | CA |
0836325 | Mar 1970 | CA |
0852003 | Sep 1970 | CA |
0956885 | Oct 1974 | CA |
0977675 | Nov 1975 | CA |
1015656 | Aug 1977 | CA |
1027851 | Mar 1978 | CA |
1059432 | Jul 1979 | CA |
1061713 | Sep 1979 | CA |
1072442 | Feb 1980 | CA |
1295118 | Feb 1992 | CA |
1300000 | May 1992 | CA |
2108723 | Apr 1995 | CA |
2108349 | Aug 1996 | CA |
2349234 | Nov 2002 | CA |
2369244 | Apr 2005 | CA |
2147079 | Oct 2006 | CA |
2235085 | Jan 2007 | CA |
2281276 | Feb 2007 | CA |
2647973 | Oct 2007 | CA |
2304938 | Feb 2008 | CA |
2299790 | Jul 2008 | CA |
2633061 | Jul 2008 | CA |
2374115 | May 2010 | CA |
2652930 | Jul 2010 | CA |
2621991 | Sep 2010 | CA |
2660227 | Sep 2010 | CA |
2730875 | Aug 2012 | CA |
2734170 | Sep 2012 | CA |
2971941 | Dec 2012 | CA |
2436158 | Jun 2013 | CA |
2553297 | Jul 2013 | CA |
2654848 | Oct 2013 | CA |
2777966 | Nov 2013 | CA |
2781273 | Dec 2013 | CA |
2781273 | May 2014 | CA |
2804521 | Jul 2014 | CA |
2917260 | Jan 2015 | CA |
2917263 | Jan 2015 | CA |
2841520 | Feb 2015 | CA |
2785871 | May 2015 | CA |
2691399 | Sep 2015 | CA |
2847759 | Sep 2015 | CA |
2900178 | Oct 2015 | CA |
2900179 | Oct 2015 | CA |
2893170 | Nov 2015 | CA |
2853445 | Dec 2015 | CA |
2854171 | Dec 2015 | CA |
2898065 | Jan 2016 | CA |
2962274 | Jan 2016 | CA |
2890491 | Feb 2016 | CA |
2893221 | Apr 2016 | CA |
2872120 | May 2016 | CA |
2875846 | May 2016 | CA |
2900179 | May 2016 | CA |
2898943 | Jun 2016 | CA |
2897785 | Jul 2016 | CA |
2900178 | Sep 2016 | CA |
2707776 | Nov 2016 | CA |
2893552 | Nov 2016 | CA |
2935652 | Jan 2017 | CA |
2857329 | Feb 2017 | CA |
2915571 | Feb 2017 | CA |
2856460 | May 2017 | CA |
2956771 | Aug 2017 | CA |
2981619 | Dec 2017 | CA |
2875848 | May 2018 | CA |
2899805 | May 2018 | CA |
2928044 | Jul 2018 | CA |
2974714 | Sep 2018 | CA |
2965117 | Oct 2018 | CA |
2958715 | Mar 2019 | CA |
101870894 | Apr 2009 | CN |
0144203 | Jun 1985 | EP |
0261793 | Mar 1988 | EP |
0283602 | Sep 1988 | EP |
0747142 | Apr 2001 | EP |
2852713 | Sep 2004 | FR |
1457696 | Dec 1976 | GB |
1463444 | Feb 1977 | GB |
2156400 | Oct 1985 | GB |
2164978 | Apr 1986 | GB |
2286001 | Oct 1995 | GB |
2357528 | Jun 2001 | GB |
2391890 | Feb 2004 | GB |
2391891 | Feb 2004 | GB |
2403443 | Jan 2005 | GB |
20130134846 | May 2012 | KR |
198201214 | Apr 1982 | WO |
198912728 | Dec 1989 | WO |
199421889 | Sep 1994 | WO |
199967503 | Dec 1999 | WO |
200025002 | May 2000 | WO |
200066882 | Nov 2000 | WO |
200181239 | Nov 2001 | WO |
200181715 | Nov 2001 | WO |
200192673 | Dec 2001 | WO |
200192768 | Dec 2001 | WO |
2002086018 | Oct 2002 | WO |
2002086276 | Oct 2002 | WO |
2003010415 | Feb 2003 | WO |
2003036033 | May 2003 | WO |
2003036038 | May 2003 | WO |
2003036039 | May 2003 | WO |
2003036043 | May 2003 | WO |
2003038233 | May 2003 | WO |
2003040513 | May 2003 | WO |
2003062596 | Jul 2003 | WO |
2004038173 | May 2004 | WO |
2004038174 | May 2004 | WO |
2004038175 | May 2004 | WO |
2004050567 | Jun 2004 | WO |
2004050791 | Jun 2004 | WO |
2004097159 | Nov 2004 | WO |
2005012688 | Feb 2005 | WO |
WO-2014003941 | Jan 2014 | WO |
2015158371 | Oct 2015 | WO |
2017222929 | Dec 2017 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Lim, G. B., et al., (1996) “Three-dimensional Scaled Physical Modeling of Solvent Vapour Extraction of Cold Lake Bitumen,” The Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, (April) 35(4), pp. 32-40. |
Lim, G. B., (1995) “Cyclic Stimulation of Cold Lake Oil Sand with Supercritical Ethane,” SPE Paper 30298, pp. 521-528. |
Ai-Gosayier, M., et al. (2015) “In Situ Recovery of Heavy-Oil From Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs: Optimization of Steam-Over-Solvent Injection Method” Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, vol. 130, pp. 77-85. |
Andrade, M.R., et al. (2007), “Mixotrophic cultivation of microalga Spirulina platensis using molasses as organic substrate”, Aquaculture, vol. 264, pp. 130-134. |
Bayestehparvin, B., et al. (2015) “Dissolution an dMobilization of Bitumen at Pore Scale”, SPE174482-MS, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun. 9-11, 2015; 23 pages. |
Butler, R. M. et al. (1991) “A new process (VAPEX) for recovering heavy oils using hot water and hydrocarbon vapour”, CIM/SPE Annual Technical Conference Jan.-Feb. vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 97-106. |
Butler, R. M. et al. (1993) “Recovery of Heavy Oils Using Vapourized Hydrocarbon Solvents: Further Development of the Vapex Process” The Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Jun., vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 56-64. |
Castanier, L.M., et al. (2005) “Heavy oil upgrading in-situ via solvent injection and combustion: A “new” method”, EAGE 67th Conference & Exhibition—Madrid, Spain, Jun. 13-16, 2005; 4 pages. |
Cristofari, J., et al. (2008) “Laboratory Investigation of the Effect of Solvent Injection on In-Situ Combustion” SPE 99752 prepared for presentation at the 2006 SPE/DOE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, Apr. 22-26. 11 pages. |
Cunha, L.B. (2005) “Recent In-Situ Oil Recovery-Technologies for Heavy- and Extraheavy-Oil Reserves”, SPE 94986, prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Enginerring Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jun. 20-23; 5 pages. |
Deng, X (2005) “Recovery Performance and Economics of Steam/Propane Hybrid Process.” SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97760, PS2005-341, SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium, copyright, pp. 1-7. |
Diaz, J. A. D. (2006) “An Experimental Study of Steam and Steam-Propane Injection Using a Novel Smart Horizontal Producer to Enhance Oil Production in the San Ardo Field.” Presentation given at Sponsor's Meeting, Crisman Institute, Aug. 3, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University (7 pages). |
Doan, Q., et al. (2011) “Potential Pitfalls From Successful History—Match Simulation of a Long-Running Clearwater-Fm Sagd Well Pair” SPE 147318, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Denver, Colorado, Oct. 30-Nov. 2; 9 pages. |
D'Silva, J, et al. (2008) “In-Situ Combustion With Solvent Injection” SPE 117684, Prepared for presentation at the SPE International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Oct. 20-23; 11 pages. |
D'Silva, J., et al. (2011) “Integration of In-Situ Combustion With Solvent Injection—A Detailed Study” SPE 141570, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Projects and Facilities Challenges Conference at METS held in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 13-16; 11 pages. |
Dunn-Norman, S., et al. (2002) “Recovery Methods for Heavy Oil in Ultra-Shallow Reservoirs” SPE 76710, prepared for presentation at the SPE Western Regional/AAPG Pacific Section Joint Meeting held in Anchorage, Alaska, May 20-22, 6 pages. |
Frauenfeld, T.W., et al (2006) “Economic Analysis of Thermal Solvent Processes” Pet-Soc 2006-164; Presented at the Petroleum Socity's 7th Canadian International Peteroleum Conference (57th Annual Technical Meeting), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun. 13-15, 2006; 9 pages. |
Gates, I.D., et al. (2011) “Evolution of In Situ Oil Sands Recovery Technology: What Happened and What's New?” SPE150686, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Heavy Oil Conference and Exhibition held in Kuwait City, Kuwait, Dec. 12-14, 2011; 10 pages. |
Ghoodjani, E., et al. (2012) “A Review on Thermal Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery From Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs” SPE 150147, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Heavy Oil Conference Canada held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun. 12-14, 2012; 8 pages. |
Goldthorpe, S. (2013) “Cement Plant CO2 to DME,” IEAGHG Information Paper; 2013-IP9, Jun. 2013, 1 page. |
Greaser, G.R., et al. (2003) “New Thermal Recovery Tech nology and Technology Transfer for Successful Heavy Oil Development.” SPE69731, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc., 7 pages. |
Hong, K.C. (1999) “Recent Advances in Steamflood Technology.” SPE 54078, Copyright 1999, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc., 14 pages. |
Jaiswal, N. J. (2006) “Experimental and Analytical Studies of Hydrocarbon Yields Under Dry-, Steam-, and Steam with Propane-Distillation.” Presentation given at Crisman Institute's Halliburton Center for Unconventional Resources, Aug. 3, 2006, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University (5 pages). |
Jiang, Q., et al. (2010) “Evaluation of Recovery Technologies for the Grosmont Carbonate Reservoirs” Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 56-64. |
Kamal, C., et al. (2012), “Spirulina platensis—A novel green inhibitor for acid corrosion of mild steel”, Arabian Journal of Chemistry, vol. 5, pp. 155-161. |
Khaledi, R., et al. (2018) “Azeotropic Heated Vapour Extraction—A New Thermal-Solvent Assisted Gravity Drainage Recovery Process”, SPE189755-MS, SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Mar. 13-14, 2018, 20 pages. |
Lei, H., et al. (2012) “An Evaluation of Air Injection as a Follow-Up Process to Cyclic Steam Stimulation in a Heavy Oil Reservoir” SPE 150703, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Heavy Oil Conference Canada held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun. 12-14, 2012; 13 pages. |
Lennox, T.R. et al (1980) “Geology of In Situ Pilot Project, Wabasca Oil Sands Deposit, Alberta” Saskatchewan Geological Society Special Publication No. 5; Conference and Core Seminar, Regina, Oct. 15-17, 1980; pp. 267-268. |
Lim, G.B. et al. (1994) “Three Dimensional Scaled Physcial Modeling of Solvent Vapour Extraction of Cold Lake Bitumen,” Canadian SPE Int'l Conf. on Recent Advances in Horizontal Well Applications, Paper No. HWC94-46, Calgary, Canada, Mar. 20-23, 1994, 11 pages. |
Lim, G.B. et al. (1995) “Cyclic Stimulation of Cold Lake Oil Sand with Supercriticall Ethane,” SPE #30298, Int'l Heavy Oil Symposium, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun. 19-21, 1995, pp. 521-528. |
Lyubovsky, M., et al. (2005) “Catalytic Partial ‘Oxidation of Methane to Syngas’ at Elevated Pressures,” Catalysis Letters, v. 99, Nos. 3-4, Feb. 2005, pp. 113-117. |
Mamora, D. D., (2006) “Thermal Oil Recovery Research at Texas A&M in the Past Five Years—an Overview.” Presentation given at the Crisman Institute Halliburton Center for Unconventional Resources, Research Meeting Aug. 3, Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University (13 pages). |
Mert, B.D., et al. (2011) “The role of Spirulina platensis on corrosion behavior of carbon steel”, Materials Chemistry and Physics, vol. 130, pp. 697-701. |
Mokrys, I. J., et al. (1993) “In-Situ Upgrading of Heavy Oils andBitumen by Propane Deasphalting: The Vapex Process” SPE 25452, Mar. 21-23, Oklahoma City, OK, pp. 409-424. |
Mulac, A.J.,et al. (1981) “Project Deep Steam Preliminary Field Test Bakersfield, California.” SAND80-2843, Printed Apr. 62 pages. |
Naderi, K., et al. (2015) “Effect of Bitumen Viscosity and Bitumen—Water Interfacial Tension on Steam Assisted Bitumen Recovery Process Efficiency”, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 133, pp. 862-868. |
Nasr, T.N., et al. (2005) “Thermal Techniques for the Recovery of Heavy Oil and Bitumen” SPE 97488 prepared for presentation at the SPE International Improved Oil Recovery Conferencein Asia Pacific held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 5-6, 2005. 15 pages. |
Nasr, T.N. et al. (2006) “New Hybrid Steam-Solvent Processes for the Recovery of Heavy Oil and Bitumen” SPE 101717 Prepared for presentation at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference held in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., Nov. 5-8, 2006; 17 pages. |
National Energy Board, (2004) “Canada's Oil Sands. Opportunities and Challenges to 2015.” An Energy Market Assessment, May (158 pages). |
Nexant, Inc. (2008), “Dimethyl Ether Technology and Markets,” CHEMSystems PERP Program Report 07/08S3, Dec. 2008, 7 pages. |
NTIS, Downhole Steam-Generator Study, vol. 1, Conception and Feasibility Evaluation. Final Report, Sep. 1978-Sep. 1980, Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque NM, Jun. 1982. 260 pages. |
Oceaneering; Website: http://www.oceaneering.com/Brochures/MFV%20%Oceaneering%20Multiflex.pdf, Oceaneering Multiflex, Oceaneering International, Incorporated, printed Nov. 23, 2005, 2 pages. |
Qi, G.X. et al. (2001) “DME Synthesis from Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Over Cu—Mo/HZSM-5,” Catalysis Letters, V. 72, Nos. 1-2, 2001, pp. 121-124. |
Redford, et al. (1980) “Hydrocarbon-Steam Processes for Recovery of Bitumen from Oil Sands” SPE8823, Prepared for presentation at the First Joint SPE/DOE Symposium on Enhanced Oil Recovery at Tulsa, Oklahoma, Apr. 20-23; 12 pages. |
Saeedfar, A., et al. (2018) “Critical Consideration for Analysis of RF-Thermal Recovery of Heavy Petroleum” SPE-189714-MS, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Mar. 13-14, 2018; 13 pages. |
Seibert, B. H. (2012) “Sonic Azeotropic Gravity Extraction of Heavy Oil From Oil Sands”, SPE157849-MS, SPE Heavy Oil Conference Canda held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jun. 12-14, 2012, 10 pages. |
Sharma, J. et al. (2010) “Steam-Solvent Coupling at the Chamber Edge in an In Situ Bitumen Recovery Process” SPE 128045, Prepared for presentation at the SPE Oil and Gas India Conference and Exhibition held in Mumbai, India Jan. 20-22; 26 pages. |
Stark, S.D. (2013) “Cold Lake Commercialization of the Liquid Addition to Steam for Enhancing Recovery (Laser) Process” IPTC 16795, Prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology Conference held in Beijing, China, Mar. 26-28, 2013, 15 pages. |
Wan Nik, W.B., et al. (2012), “Marine Extracts as Corrosion Inhibitor for Aluminum in Seawater Applications”, International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA), vol. 2, Issue 1; pp. 455-458. |
Zhang, L. et al. (2013) “Dehydration of Methanol to Dimethyl Ether Over y-AL2O3 Catalyst: Intrinsic Kinetics and Effectiveness Factor,” Canadian Journal of Chem. Engineering, v.91, Sep. 2013, pp. 1538-1546. |
International Search Report and the Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, or the Declaration (2 pages), International Search Report (4 pages), and Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority (6 pages) for International Application No. PCT/US2007/080985 dated Feb. 28, 2008. |
International Preliminary Report on Patentability (2 pages); Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority (6 pages); all dated Apr. 23, 2009 in PCT International Application No. PCT/US2007/080985 filed Oct. 10, 2007 (Total 8 pages). |
Hansen, C. M., et al. (1971) “Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology” First Suppl. vol., pp. 889-910. |
Hansen, C. (1999) “Hansen Solubility Parameters A User's Handbook”, pp. ii-iv, 1-74 and 151-175. |
Feali, M., et al. (2008) “Feasibility Study of the Cyclic VAPEX Process for Low Permeable Carbonate Systems”, International Petroleum Technology Conference paper 12833, pp. 1-5. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20190002755 A1 | Jan 2019 | US |