Reservoir heating with autoignitable oil to produce crude oil

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING OIL FROM A CRUDE OIL STRATUM PENETRATED BY AN INJECTION WELL AND AT LEAST ONE OFFSET WELL, WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF: (1) INJECTING AN AUTOIGNITABLE FUEL INTO SAID STRATUM THROUGH SAID INJECTION WELL IN AN AMOUNT IN THE RANGE OF 0.1 TO 0.5 PORE VOLUME TOWARD SAID OFFSET WELL; (2) DRIVING SAID FUEL INTO SAID STRATUM AND DISPERSING SAME THEREIN BY INJECTING A NON-OXIDIZING GAS THROUGH SAID INJECTION WELL BEHIND SAID FUEL; (3) THEREAFTER, INJECTING AN OXYGEN-CONTAINING OXIDIZING GAS INTO SAID STRATUM THROUGH ONE OF SAID WELLS AND INTO CONTACT WITH SAID FUEL TO SPONTANEOUSLY OXIDIZE SAID FUEL AND MOVE A HEAT FRONT THROUGH SAID STRATUM TOWARD THE OTHER OF SAID WELLS; (4) CONTROLLING THE RATE OF OXIDATION IN STEP (3) SO AS TO MAINTAIN THE TEMPERATURE IN THE OXIDATION ZONE BELOW THE IN-PLACE IGNITION TEMPERATURE OF THE CRUDE OIL AND AVOID BURNING ANY SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION OF THE CRUDE OIL; AND (5) RECOVERING PRODUCED FLUIDS INCLUDIG CRUDE OIL AND OXIDATION GASES FROM SAID OTHER WELL.