Methods for producing oil and/or gas

Abstract

A method for producing oil from an underground formation comprising providing a first well in one or more formations, the first well comprising a plurality of sections along a length of the well; providing a second well in the formation; injecting an enhanced oil recovery formulation into at least a first section and a second section of the first well and into the formation; flowing the formulation and/or oil towards the second well in one or more formations; producing the formulation and/or oil from the second well; and then modifying the injecting into the second section, while continuing the injecting into the first section.

1 . A method for producing oil from an underground formation comprising:
 providing a first well in the formation, the first well comprising a plurality of sections along a length of the well;   providing a second well in the formation;   injecting an enhanced oil recovery formulation into at least a first section and a second section of the first well and into the formation;   producing the formulation and/or oil from the second well; and   then modifying the injecting into the second section, while continuing the injecting into the first section.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first well further comprises a first array of wells, and the second well further comprises a second array of wells, wherein a well in the first array of wells is at a distance of 5 meters to 200 meters from one or more adjacent wells in the second array of wells. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first well comprises from about 3 to about 20 sections along the length of the first well. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the enhanced oil recovery formulation comprises steam. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein modifying the injecting into the second section comprises actuating a valve in the second section. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second well comprises a plurality of sections along a length of the well. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first well comprises an array of wells of 5 to 500 wells, and the second well comprises an array of wells of 5 to 500 wells. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein producing the formulation and/or oil mixture from the second well comprises producing from a first section and from a second section of the second well; and
 then modifying the production into the second section, while continuing the production into the first section.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the underground formation comprises an oil having a viscosity from 100 to 5,000,000 centipoise. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising converting at least a portion of the recovered oil into a material selected from the group consisting of transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel, heating fuel, lubricants, chemicals, and/or polymers. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the steam is injected at a pressure from 0 to 37,000 kilopascals above the initial reservoir pressure, measured prior to when the injection begins. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the underground formation comprises a permeability from 0.0001 to 15 Darcies. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein any oil, as present in the underground formation prior to the injecting the formulation, has a viscosity from 5000 to 2,000,000 centipoise. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sensing at least one of a pressure and a temperature at the first section and the second section of the first well. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sensing at least one of a pressure and a temperature at a first section and a second section of the second well. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second well comprises a plurality of sections along a length of the well;
 further comprising modifying the production into a first plurality of sections of the second well, while continuing the production into a second plurality of sections of the second well.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising modifying the injecting into a first plurality of sections of the first well, while continuing the injecting into a second plurality of sections of the first well.