Enhanced steam drive recovery of heavy oil

摘要

A method for enhancing steam drive recovery of oil from an oil zone disposed below an overburden (18) including injecting a surfactant continuously into a supply (20) of driving steam to uniformly mix the surfactant with the steam and thereby provide a driving fluid. The driving fluid is then introduced into the oil zone (16) under sufficient pressure to cause the fluid to drive through a flow channel (S) between the interface I and the overburden (18) thereabove. The surfactant reacts with the oil to enable the fluid to strip away a top layer of the oil which is driven to a production well 14 for removal thereof.