Patent US 4,031,956

The present invention is directed to a method of recovering energy from a subsurface petroleum formation by igniting the petroleum reservoir and burning as much petroleum as is possible thereby generating heat and recovering the heat so that it can be transformed into other forms of useful energy. The method also includes the steps of controlling the burning reservoir by injecting plugging agents into the more rapidly burning channels of the reservoir and by injecting oxidizing agents in spaced locations from the heat recovery location so that the burn pattern can be spread out over a selected area to maximize the recovery of energy from the selected area.