Single Well Stimulation for the Recovery of Liquid Hydrocarbons from Subsurface Formations Bridges, Jack E. Taflove, Allen Sresty, Guggilam C. Water is vaporized in an annular upper region of a subsurface formation into which borehole extends from the surface. This creates a substantially nonconducting dielectric in such region extending outwardly from the borehole. Such vaporization is preferably achieved by the application of electrical power to an electrode disposed in the borehole. Liquid is produced through the borehole from a lower region of the formation to cool the lower region near the borehole and maintain an electrically conductive path between the formation and the electrode in such lower region through which electrical power is applied to the formation. Sponsorship: IIT Research Institute United States Patent 2009-05-08 1985-06-25 Patent application/pdf islandora:9717 4,524,827 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/2345 en No Copyright - United States http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/ Open Access