Patent ID: 7823647

Claim:
A process for recovering oil from a gas-lifted oil well penetrating a subterranean oil-bearing formation, the process comprising: A) providing a lift gas and a wet hydrocarbon foaming agent at an oil well wherein the oil well penetrates a subterranean oil-bearing formation and has formation fluids in the well bore; B) introducing a lift gas into the oil well; and C) introducing a wet hydrocarbon foaming agent into the oil well, wherein: i) the wet hydrocarbon foaming agent functions to: (a) reduce the surface tension between the formation fluids and the lift gas; (b) create a lift gas-formation fluid foam; or (c) both (a) and (b); ii) the wet hydrocarbon foaming agent and lift gas are injected into the oil well at a depth sufficiently deep to lift formation fluids to the surface; and iii) the wet hydrocarbon foaming agent is selected from the group consisting of a polysiloxane, an ethoxylated siloxane, a propoxylated siloxane, an ethoxylated and propoxylated siloxane and combinations thereof.