Patent ID: 9243487
Filing Date: 2016-01-26
CPC Classification: E21B,E21C

Claim Text:
1. A method to produce hydrocarbons from a formation, the method comprising the steps of: placing a pair of electrodes within a formation; applying differential voltages between pairs of electrodes wherein the voltage differences between the electrodes is greater than at least 10,000 volts; and producing hydrocarbons from the formation or an adjacent formation wherein the formation has an initial permeability of less than ten millidarcy, and wherein as a result of the application of the differential voltage, effective permeability of a formation is increased by between 10 and 10,000 percent, where the effective permeability is defined as an average permeability in a volume between the electrodes, where the volume between the electrodes is defined as the volume within a cylinder having a diameter equal to the length of the electrodes, around a line connecting the centers of the electrodes.