Author: bomuo

Oil shale can be mined and processed to generate oil similar to oil pumped from conventional oil wells; however, extracting oil from oil shale is more complex than conventional oil recovery and currently is more expensive. The oil substances in oil shale are solid and cannot be pumped directly out of the ground. The oil shale must first be mined and then heated to a high temperature (a process called retorting); the resultant liquid must then be separated and collected. An alternative but currently experimental process referred to as in situ retorting involves heating the oil shale while it is still underground, and then pumping the resulting liquid to the surface. This processing system is believed can provide an economic and environmentally friendly method to recover oil from oil shale deposits

A method of enhanced recovery in which heat is generated within the reservoir by injecting air, oxygen, or mixtures of air and oxygen and burning a portion of the oil in place. The heat of in-situ combustion cracks the crude hydrocarbons, vaporizes the lighter hydrocarbons, and deposits the heavier hydrocarbons as coke. As the fire moves from the injection well in the direction of producing wells, it burns the deposited coke, releases hot combustion gases and converts interstitial water into steam. The vaporized hydrocarbons and the steam move ahead of the combustion zone, condensing into liquids as they cool, and moving oil by miscible displacement and hot water flooding. Combustion gases provide additional gas drive. Carbon dioxide generated is dissolved in oil, causing oil to swell and heat lowers the viscosity of the oil. These allow oil to flow more freely. This method is used to recover heavy, viscous oil.

The total quantity of carbohydrates that is estimated to exist originally in naturally occurring reservoirs