Reservoir Souring: An Analytical Model for H2S Generation and Transportation in an Oil Reservoir Owing to Bacterial Activity

Ligthelm, D.J.; Boer, R. B. de; Brint, J.F.; Schulte, W.M.

doi:10.2118/23141-ms

Cited by 55 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…These anaerobes produce sulfide as the end product of sulfate respiration (Postgate, 1984). Sulfide is toxic to most organisms (Caffrey and Voordouw, 2010), and its production causes oil souring in the petroleum industry (Ligthelm et al, 1991; Sunde et al, 1993). Despite the undesirable features of this metabolic end product, SRB have been exploited in studies of heavy metal bioremediation (Jiang and Fan, 2008; Martins et al, 2009) because of the ability of sulfide to form insoluble complexes with heavy metals (Jalali and Baldwin, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic basis for nitrate resistance in Desulfovibrio strains

Korte

Fels²,

Christensen³

et al. 2014

Front. Microbiol.

200

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Nitrate is an inhibitor of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). In petroleum production sites, amendments of nitrate and nitrite are used to prevent SRB production of sulfide that causes souring of oil wells. A better understanding of nitrate stress responses in the model SRB, Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough and Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20, will strengthen predictions of environmental outcomes of nitrate application. Nitrate inhibition of SRB has historically been considered to result from the generation of small amounts of nitrite, to which SRB are quite sensitive. Here we explored the possibility that nitrate might inhibit SRB by a mechanism other than through nitrite inhibition. We found that nitrate-stressed D. vulgaris cultures grown in lactate-sulfate conditions eventually grew in the presence of high concentrations of nitrate, and their resistance continued through several subcultures. Nitrate consumption was not detected over the course of the experiment, suggesting adaptation to nitrate. With high-throughput genetic approaches employing TnLE-seq for D. vulgaris and a pooled mutant library of D. alaskensis, we determined the fitness of many transposon mutants of both organisms in nitrate stress conditions. We found that several mutants, including homologs present in both strains, had a greatly increased ability to grow in the presence of nitrate but not nitrite. The mutated genes conferring nitrate resistance included the gene encoding the putative Rex transcriptional regulator (DVU0916/Dde_2702), as well as a cluster of genes (DVU0251-DVU0245/Dde_0597-Dde_0605) that is poorly annotated. Follow-up studies with individual D. vulgaris transposon and deletion mutants confirmed high-throughput results. We conclude that, in D. vulgaris and D. alaskensis, nitrate resistance in wild-type cultures is likely conferred by spontaneous mutations. Furthermore, the mechanisms that confer nitrate resistance may be different from those that confer nitrite resistance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic basis for nitrate resistance in Desulfovibrio strains

Korte

Fels²,

Christensen³

et al. 2014

Front. Microbiol.

200

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“…When the role of sulfate-reducing bacteria was acknowledged (Ligthelm et al, 1991; Sunde et al, 1993), this resulted in efforts directed to develop strategies to mitigate microbial reservoir souring. So far, this has resulted in a number of proposed strategies: nitrate injection, sulfate removal and biocide injection.…”

Section: Application Of (Per)chlorate In the Oil Businessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial redox processes in deep subsurface environments and the potential application of (per)chlorate in oil reservoirs

et al. 2014

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The ability of microorganisms to thrive under oxygen-free conditions in subsurface environments relies on the enzymatic reduction of oxidized elements, such as sulfate, ferric iron, or CO2, coupled to the oxidation of inorganic or organic compounds. A broad phylogenetic and functional diversity of microorganisms from subsurface environments has been described using isolation-based and advanced molecular ecological techniques. The physiological groups reviewed here comprise iron-, manganese-, and nitrate-reducing microorganisms. In the context of recent findings also the potential of chlorate and perchlorate [jointly termed (per)chlorate] reduction in oil reservoirs will be discussed. Special attention is given to elevated temperatures that are predominant in the deep subsurface. Microbial reduction of (per)chlorate is a thermodynamically favorable redox process, also at high temperature. However, knowledge about (per)chlorate reduction at elevated temperatures is still scarce and restricted to members of the Firmicutes and the archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus. By analyzing the diversity and phylogenetic distribution of functional genes in (meta)genome databases and combining this knowledge with extrapolations to earlier-made physiological observations we speculate on the potential of (per)chlorate reduction in the subsurface and more precisely oil fields. In addition, the application of (per)chlorate for bioremediation, souring control, and microbial enhanced oil recovery are addressed.

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“…Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are responsible for many of the bacterial problems in oil production. Hydrogen sulfide is produced directly by SRB as a waste product of respiration (Eden et al (1993), Ligthelm et al (1991), Sunde et al (1993), Vance & Thrasher (2000)). The generation of H 2 S within oil field reservoirs by the activity of SRB, typically associated with secondary recovery water flooding, is commonly referred to as reservoir souring.…”

Section: Introduction To Reservoir Souringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Souring Development Associated with PWRI in a North Sea Field

2015

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A North Sea Field has been water flooded with commingled produced and aquifer water since 1997. Lowsulphate source waters were selected for injection in order to mitigate barium sulphate scaling and reservoir souring development. Small volumes of seawater are included in the injection water due to operational reasons, but the average sulphate concentration of the overall injection water does not exceed 20 mg/l. Aquifer and produced water has historically been injected with minimal treatment due to the high permeability of the clastic reservoirs.Despite the low sulphate concentration of the injection water there has been souring development over field life. The reservoir temperature of 104 F is sufficiently low to allow microbiological activity throughout the reservoir. Microbiological monitoring in the produced fluids indicates the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), but the low sulphate availability limits SRB activity.The injection water was treated with continuous biocide with the intention of controlling SRB activity within the reservoir, and reservoir souring simulations were carried out to investigate the effectiveness of this treatment. The simulation results indicated that the levels of H 2 S present in the produced water were consistent with the availability of sulphate in the injection water, and that the biocide treatment was not limiting SRB activity. The continuous biocide treatment was discontinued and no subsequent increase in H 2 S generation was observed in the field, demonstrating that souring development was sulphate limited.

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Reservoir Souring: An Analytical Model for H2S Generation and Transportation in an Oil Reservoir Owing to Bacterial Activity

Cited by 55 publications

References 4 publications

Genetic basis for nitrate resistance in Desulfovibrio strains

Genetic basis for nitrate resistance in Desulfovibrio strains

Microbial redox processes in deep subsurface environments and the potential application of (per)chlorate in oil reservoirs

Souring Development Associated with PWRI in a North Sea Field

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