US00850562OB2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,505,620 B2 Zupanick (45) Date of Patent: *Aug. 13, 2013 (54) METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCESSING (58) Field of Classification Search SUBTERRANEAN DEPOSTS FROM THE USPC .............................................. 166/50, 52, 245 SURFACE AND TOOLS THEREFOR See application file for complete search history. (75) Inventor: Joseph A. Zupanick, Beckley, WV (US) (56) References Cited (73) Assignee: Vitruvian Exploration, LLC, Houston, U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS TX (US) 54,144 A 4, 1866 Hamar 274,740 A 3/1883 Douglass (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this (Continued) patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS AU 85,49964 A 11, 1986 This patent is Subject to a terminal dis CA 2210866 1, 1998 claimer. (Continued) (21) Appl. No.: 11/982,249 OTHER PUBLICATIONS (22) Filed: Oct. 31, 2007 McCray, Arthur, et al., “Oil Well Drilling Technology.” University of Oklahoma Press, 1959, Title Page, Copyright Page and pp. 315-319 (65) Prior Publication Data (7 pages). US 2008/OO60806A1 Mar. 13, 2008 (Continued) Primary Examiner — John Kreck Related U.S. Application Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Fish & Richardson P.C. (60) Continuation of application No. 10/630,345, filed on Jul. 29, 2003, which is a continuation-in-part of (57) ABSTRACT According to one embodiment, a system for accessing a Sub (Continued) terranean Zone from the surface includes a well bore extend ing from the Surface to the Subterranean Zone, and a well bore (51) Int. C. pattern connected to the junction and operable to drain fluid E2IB 43/00 (2006.01) from a region of the Subterranean Zone to the junction. (52) U.S. C. USPC ............................................................ 166/52 25 Claims, 86 Drawing Sheets 6014 US 8,505,620 B2 Page 2 Related U.S. Application Data 6.357.523, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 09/197.687, filed on Nov. 20, 1998, (60) application No. 10/165,627, filed on Jun. 7, 2002, now now Pat. No. 6,280,000. Pat. No. 6,668,918, which is a continuation of application No. 09/789,956, filed on Feb. 20, 2001, (56) References Cited now Pat. No. 6,478,085, which is a division of application No. 09/444,029, filed on Nov. 19, 1999, U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS now Pat. No. 6,357,523, which is a 526,708 A 10, 1894 Horton continuation-in-part of application No. 09/197.687, 639,036 A 12, 1899 Heald filed on Nov. 20, 1998, now Pat. 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