Patent ID: 8746336

Claim:
A method of recovering oil from an oil well and producing steam for injection into an injection well, the method comprising: a. recovering an oil-water mixture from the oil well; b. separating oil from the oil-water mixture to produce an oil product and produced water; c. directing the produced water to a containment vessel having one or more heating tubes that extend through a portion of the containment vessel in a generally serpentine configuration; d. directing the produced water through the one or more heating tubes in the containment vessel such that the produced water flows back and forth in a serpentine manner through the heating tubes in the containment vessel; e. directing a heating medium into the containment vessel and heating the produced water passing through the one or more heating tubes in the containment vessel to produce steam; f. directing at least a portion of the steam into the injection well; g. directing the steam-water mixture from the containment vessel to a steam separator; h. separating steam from the steam-water mixture in the steam separator; i. injecting at least a portion of the separated steam into the injection well; and j. recycling at least a portion of the water separated from the steam-water mixture back to the containment vessel.