Secondary recovery and well stimulation, solutions, and methods of use

Claim 1

The method of secondary recovery as claimed in claim 1 in which the water flood is by a ''''slug'''' of viscous water followed by water.

Claim 8

The method oF injecting, as a chemical sweep, into an oil producing formation as sacrificial materials, chemical compounds including at least one of cationic, anionic, or non-ionic groups adapted to give water solubility to molecules and capable of competing with detergent hydrophilic groups for anchor sites in the oil producing formation, injecting into the formation at, at least one of points along with the sacrificial material and following thereafter, a least one of hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and invert emulsion activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby the molecules deprived of anchor sites are free to form invert emulsions with oil in the formation.

Claim 38

The method of injecting, as a chemical sweep, into an oil producing formation as sacrificial materials, chemical compounds including at least one of cationic, anionic, or non-ionic groups adapted to give water solubility to molecules and capable of competing with detergent hydrophilic groups for anchor sites in the oil producing formation, injecting into the formation at, at least one of points along with the sacrificial material and following thereafter, at least one of hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and invert emulsion activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby the molecules deprived of anchor sites are free to form invert emulsions with oil in the formation in which material capable of tying up aluminate ions is incorporated in the formulation to prevent the formation of invert emulsions.

Claim 39

The method of injecting, as a chemical sweep, into an oil producing formation as sacrificial materials, chemical compounds including at least one of cationic, anionic, or non-ionic groups adapted to give water solubility to molecules and capable of competing with detergent hydrophilic groups for anchor sites in the oil producing formation, injecting into the formation at, at least one of points along with the sacrificial material and following thereafter, at least one of hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and invert emulsion activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby the molecules deprived of anchor sites are free to form invert emulsions with oil in the formation in which at least one of the surface tension and hydrophilic-lyophilic balance of the detergent molecules, and of the emulsification activator materials are selected to form an unstable emulsion capable of emulsifying and then de-emulsifying the oil to form oil banks, thus eliminating ''''fingering.''''

Claim 40

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the inverse emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous inverse emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous inverse emulsification of the oil as aforesaid.

Claim 46

The method of injecting as a chemical seep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, in which at least one of the surface tension and hydrophilic-lyophilic balance of the detergent molecules and of the emulsification activator materials are selected to form an unstable emulsion capable of emulsifying and then de-emulsifying the oil to form oil banks, thus eliminating ''''fingering.''''

Claim 47

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, in which the emulsion activator material activates the surface active materials in the oil, whereby the concentration of the emulsification activator alters the particle size of the emulsion within the limits of the oil mixture, the higher the concentration, the smaller the particle size.

Claim 48

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, in which material capable of tying up aluminate ions is incorporated in the formulation of invert emulsification.

Claim 49

The method of injecting, as a chemical sweep, into an oil producing formation as sacrificial materials, chemical compounds including at least one of cationic, anionic, or non-ionic groups adapted to give water solubility to molecules and capable of competing with detergent hydrophilic groups for anchor sites in the oil producing formation, injecting into the formation at, at least one of points along with the sacrificial material and following thereafter, at least one of hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and invert emulsion activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby the molecules deprived of anchoR sites are free to form invert emulsions with oil in the formation, additional process following chemical sweep as claimed above, and in environment comprising at least two zones of different permeabilities, which comprises flooding of the swept zone with an aqueous solution containing salts of a multi-valent material capable of forming an invert emulsion with the emulsified oil, whereby the said aqueous solution then statically remains in more permeable zone, and thereafter conducting less permeable zone sweep whereby any emulsified oil migrating from lower permeable zone to higher permeable zone will react with the salts of the multi-valent material to form invert emulsions which create excluding barrier to prevent further migration and to permit a clean sweep of the less permeable zone, in which a thickened displacing fluid is included following the emulsion flood to thicken the water and to allow a more uniform recovery of the oil.

Claim 50

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, and in environment comprising at least two zones of different permeabilities, which comprises flooding of the swept zone with an aqueous solution containing salts of a multi-valent material capable of forming an invert emulsion with the emulsified oil, whereby the said aqueous solution then statically remains in more permeable zone, and thereafter conducting less permeable zone sweep whereby any emulsified oil migrating from lower permeable zone to higher permeable zone will react with the salts of the multi-valent material to form invert emulsions which create excluding barrier to prevent further migration and to permit a clean sweep of the less permeable zone.

Claim 59

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, in which a salt of a multi-valent material capable of forming an invert emulsion with the emulsified oil is introduced into the water zone of an oil bearing formation to react with the emulsified oil to form an excluding barrier to prevent ''''coning'''' in the well.

Claim 60

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, in which a salt of a multi-valent material capable of forming an invert emulsion with the emulsified oil is introduced into a fracture at the oil-water contact zone in manner that it reacts with emulsified oil to form an exclusion barrier to prevent coning.

Claim 61

The method of injecting as a chemical sweep into an oil producing formation, for the purpose of loading the aqueous phase of the emulsion to be formed, surface active agents capable of forming spontaneous emulsification of the oil, and at substantially the same time injecting hydrophilic-hydrophobic detergent molecules and emulsification activator materials in form of at least one of water soluble inorganic and organic molecules which hydrolize in water to form strong bases, whereby transient changes in surface tension between aqueous and oil phase result in spontaneous emulsification of the oil as aforesaid, in which a salt of a multi-valent material capable of forming an invert emulsion with the emulsified oil is introduced into a fault zone in manner to react with the emulsified oil to form an exclusion barrier to contain an emulsion flood.