METHOD FOR DEVELOPMENT OF POOLS OF SUPERHEAVY OIL OR NATURAL BITUMEN Russian patent published in 2018 - IPC E21B43/24 E21B7/04 

FIELD: oil and gas industry.

SUBSTANCE: method for developing heavy oil or natural bitumen pools includes drilling a horizontal production well near the bottom of formation, drilling above it in the same vertical plane parallel to production well of injection horizontal well at distance which provides creation of hydrodynamic connection between the wells for initiation of drainage process, injecting steam into the injection well and withdrawing liquid from the production well. The method also includes drilling an additional injection well above the horizontal injection well in parallel with it in a vertical plane at a minimum distance from the formation cap in consideration of technical possibility to keep the trajectory of the well without driving in the upper rocks, the moment of establishment of hydrodynamic connection between the upper injection and production wells is registered. After that, pumping of steam into the lower injection well is stopped and pumping of steam into the upper injection well is started until completion of production period of the displacement element.

EFFECT: reduced steam-oil ratio when developing heavy oil or natural bitumen pools, increased pool production rate, reduced amount of fresh purified water required for generation of steam.

3 dwg