Compositions and Abundances of Sulfate-Reducing and Sulfur-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Water-Flooded Petroleum Reservoirs with Different Temperatures in China

Abstract

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) have been studied extensively in the petroleum industry due to their role in corrosion, but very little is known about sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB), which drive the oxidization of sulfur-compounds produced by the activity of SRB in petroleum reservoirs. Here, we surveyed the community structure, diversity and abundance of SRB and SOB simultaneously based on 16S rRNA, dsrB and soxB gene sequencing, and quantitative PCR analyses, respectively in petroleum reservoirs with different physicochemical properties. Similar to SRB, SOB were found widely inhabiting the analyzed reservoirs with high diversity and different structures. The dominant SRB belonged to the classes Deltaproteobacteria and Clostridia, and included the Desulfotignum, Desulfotomaculum, Desulfovibrio, Desulfobulbus, and Desulfomicrobium genera. The most frequently detected potential SOB were Sulfurimonas, Thiobacillus, Thioclava, Thiohalomonas and Dechloromonas, and belonged to Betaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Epsilonproteobacteria. Among them, Desulfovibrio, Desulfomicrobium, Thioclava, and Sulfurimonas were highly abundant in the low-temperature reservoirs, while Desulfotomaculum, Desulfotignum, Thiobacillus, and Dechloromonas were more often present in high-temperature reservoirs. The relative abundances of SRB and SOB varied and were present at higher proportions in the relatively high-temperature reservoirs. Canonical correspondence analysis also revealed that the SRB and SOB communities in reservoirs displayed high niche specificity and were closely related to reservoir temperature, pH of the formation brine, and sulfate concentration. In conclusion, this study extends our knowledge about the distribution of SRB and SOB communities in petroleum reservoirs.

Analysis of Bacterial Community Composition of Corroded Steel Immersed in Sanya and Xiamen Seawaters in China via Method of Illumina MiSeq Sequencing

“…Clostridia was the second most abundant class in the majority of corrosion samples. This was similar observation to the results of a study of the composition of the bacterial community composition of biofilms from metal surfaces of an alkaline district heating system, and samples collected from water-flooded petroleum reservoirs ( Kjeldsen et al, 2007 ; Tian et al, 2017 ). Some important SRB groups also belong to this class, for instance Desulfotomaculum .…”

“…At the class level, Deltaproteobacteria was the dominant class in the majority of corrosion samples. This observation parallels information from studies of the bacterial communities of samples collected from water-flooded petroleum reservoirs, water injection systems of Brazilian offshore oil platforms, and corrosive petroleum reservoirs in Yangzhou ( Korenblum et al, 2010 ; Li et al, 2016 ; Tian et al, 2017 ). There are many important SRB groups belonging to this class, e.g., Desulfovibrio , Desulfobacter and Desulfonatronum .…”

Geological gas‐storage shapes deep life

“…Today, we do not have any elements, in terms of physico‐chemical or geological data, likely to explain this diversity. This SRM association ( Desulfobacteraceae , Desulfobulbaceae , Desulfomicrobiaceae , Desulfovibrionaceae , Peptococcaceae ) have already been found from water‐flooded petroleum reservoirs (Tian et al ., ). It should be noted that members of the Desulfovibrionaceae, Desulfobacteraceae, Desulfomicrobiaceae and Desulfobulbaceae families are often associated with degradation of aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons in aquifers, contaminants which are present in natural gas (Ramos et al ., ; Kümmel et al ., ; Daghio et al ., ; Pilloni et al ., ).…”

Responses of Microbial Community Composition to Temperature Gradient and Carbon Steel Corrosion in Production Water of Petroleum Reservoir

“…Besides, in the initial wellhead fluid, we also observed a high proportion of Deltaproteobacteria. Although they often occurred in production water of high temperature oil reservoirs ( Guan et al, 2013 ; Li et al, 2016 ; Tian et al, 2017 ), it is also possible that they might come from cool portions of the wellbores not the deep oil reservoirs. And it has been reported that the wellhead samples of high-temperature, low-permeability petroleum reservoirs could represent the communities inhabiting the wellbores, instead of the reservoirs ( Song et al, 2017 ).…”