Patent ID: 8403044

Claim:
A process for recovering oil from an oil-bearing formation comprising introducing into said formation an aqueous composition comprising at least one surfactant comprising a sulfonated derivative of one or more internal olefins, said sulfonated derivative being obtained by sulfonating a composition comprising internal olefins of the formula: R 1 R 2 C═CR 3 R 4 wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are the same or different and are hydrogen or straight or branched-chain, saturated hydrocarbyl groups and the total number of carbon atoms of R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 is 6 to 44 with the proviso that at least about 96 mole percent of R 1 and R 3 are straight- or branched-chain, saturated hydrocarbyl groups and at least about 96 mole percent of R 2 and R 4 are hydrogen.