DEVELOPMENT METHOD OF DEPOSIT OF HIGH-VISCOSITY OIL AND/OR BITUMEN USING METHOD FOR STEAM PUMPING TO FORMATION Russian patent published in 2013 - IPC E21B43/24 

FIELD: oil and gas industry.

SUBSTANCE: development method of a deposit of high-viscosity oil and/or bitumen using a method for pumping of steam to a formation involves construction of the main horizontal production well and a horizontal injection well located above the horizontal one, steam pumping to horizontal wells, and after a permeable zone is created between wells, steam is pumped to the injection well and the product is extracted from the production well. With that, additional horizontal production wells are built, which are located in series and in parallel to the main one. Besides, horizontal production wells are located above the oil-water contact (OWC), but lower than injection well by 5-8 m. With that, distance between working face of one horizontal production well and the roof inlet of the other one in horizontal projection shall not be less than 5 m. Steam is pumped to production wells before the beginning of extraction in the volume of 2-10 t/m of total length of horizontal sections; after that, controlled extraction of the product from production wells is performed so that bottom-hole pressure in each of the production wells cannot be less than formation pressure of bottom water.

EFFECT: preventing flooding of a production well with bottom water, increasing oil recovery of the deposit, preserving high oil flow rate under real conditions of a non-homogeneous formation underlied with bottom water, and increasing water-free operating period of wells.

1 ex, 2 dwg