System and method for extracting petroleum and generating electricity using natural gas or local petroleum

Abstract

One embodiment is a method for extracting oil from a near-depleted oil well. A portable natural gas, methane, or petroleum reformer is brought to a site of the oil well. A quantity of natural gas, methane, or a portion of the locally produced petroleum and a quantity of water is fed into the reformer. The natural gas, methane, or petroleum is reacted with the water in the reformer to generate a driver gas containing a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide gas. The driver gas is compressed to a pressure appropriate for the oil well, the driver gas is injected into the oil well, and the oil is recovered from the near-depleted oil well. In one embodiment, sulfur is first removed from the natural gas or crude petroleum. Another embodiment is a method for generating electricity without greenhouse gas emissions. The driver gas is separated into a substantially hydrogen stream and a substantially carbon dioxide stream prior to injecting the driver gas into the oil well, and the hydrogen stream is used to generate electricity.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority from co-pending provisional U.S. Application Ser. No. 60 / 940,450 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTRACTING PETROLEUM AND GENERATING ELECTRICITY USING NATURAL GAS OR LOCAL PETROLEUM” to Robert Zubrin et al., filed on May 29, 2007, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to extracting hydrocarbons, such as petroleum and natural gas, and to generating electricity without greenhouse gas emissions by using natural gas or locally produced petroleum. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable and modular system / apparatus that may be taken to a location of an oil field, and especially a “depleted” oil well, and used to extract oil and / or generate electricity using natural gas or a portion of the locally produced petroleum.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Currently there are tens of thousands of depleted oil and natural gas w...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0025]Another embodiment of the present invention is the apparatus described above where the portable reformer includes a catalyst bed for increasing the efficiency of the portable reformer.

[0037]Another embodiment of the present invention is the apparatus described above where the portable reformer includes a catalyst bed for increasing the efficiency of the portable reformer.

Problems solved by technology

Currently there are tens of thousands of depleted oil and natural gas wells around the world, which collectively possess significant amounts of petroleum resources that cannot currently be extracted using conventional extraction techniques.

Despite the potential advantages of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery, its use has been hampered by several factors.

Unfortunately, such CO2 pipelines are difficult and costly to construct.

Additionally, many oil sites are out of reach from such natural and industrial sources of CO2.

However, electric power plants, which burn natural gas to generate electricity, produce large quantities of CO2 waste product.

Using present technologies, it is often not economically feasible to utilize the CO2 from such power plants for oil recovery because they are not within close reach of oil fields.

Thus, the cost of sequestering CO2 in the ground is often not economically feasible.

Traditionally, hydrogen has been costly to produce and its use has not been justified from an economic standpoint.

Furthermore, natural gas is often readily available at a site of an oil field, and in some cases the natural gas is considered a waste product that is “flared.” Simultaneously, crude petroleum is often available at a site of an oil field for a significantly lower cost than its price to a consumer because crude petroleum has not been processed or transported to a consumer, which are expensive steps.

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