The Potential Application of Microorganisms for Sustainable Petroleum Recovery from Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Abstract

A microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technique was tested at low-temperature heavy oil reservoirs (Russia). The bioaugmentation approach used is based on the introduction of hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria into the oilfield in combination with an injection of oxygen as a H 2 O 2 solution in order to initiate the first stage of hydrocarbon oxidation and of (NH 4 ) 2 HPO 4 as a source of biogenic elements. Before the pilot trials, the microorganisms of petroleum reservoirs were investigated by high-throughput sequencing, as well as by culture-base and radioisotope techniques. Molecular studies revealed the differences in microbial composition of the carbonate and terrigenous oil reservoirs and the communities of injection and formation water. Aerobic bacteria Rhodococcus erythropolis HO-KS22 and Gordonia amicalis 6-1 isolated from oilfields oxidized oil and produced biosurfactants. Fermentative enrichment and pure cultures produced considerable amounts of low fatty acids and alcohols from sacchariferous substrates. In core-flooding tests, 43.0-53.5% of additional heavy oil was displaced by aerobic bacteria, producing biosurfactants, and 13.4-45.5% of oil was displaced by fermentative bacteria, producing low fatty acids, alcohols, and gas. A total of 1250 t additional oil was recovered as a result of the application of an MEOR technique at the Cheremukhovskoe heavy oil reservoir and Vostochno-Anzirskoe reservoir with light conventional oil.

Exploiting Microbes in the Petroleum Field: Analyzing the Credibility of Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR)

“…Figure 2 depicts the number of EOR projects applied to the respective lithologies and highlights that gas injection has not been heavily applied to the respective lithologies compared to chemical and thermal methods. However, implementing these techniques (with the exception of MEOR) requires massive energy consumption for the generation of steam, the use of costly chemicals, a huge quantity of fresh water, and expensive equipment for their groundworks, which increases the oil price and the associated ecological risks [38]. Modern technologies, such as seismic [39] or sonic stimulations [40], and electromagnetic methods [41], are also currently being implemented.…”

Microbial communities in crude oil phase and filter-graded aqueous phase from a Daqing oilfield after polymer flooding

“…However, further oil exploitation can provide challenges (50% oil residual) due to thermal/microbial degradation and pore blockage of polymers (Ren et al, 2020). Indigenous microbial enhanced oil recovery (IMEOR) depends on the activity of indigenous microbial communities and their metabolites (such as biogas, biosurfactants, biopolymers and acids) to improve oil fluidity (Nazina et al, 2019). This method can potentially improve the recovery of residual oil from the reservoirs after polymer flooding (RAPF) (Gao et al, 2018).…”

Biodegradation of heavy oil by fungal extracellular enzymes fromAspergillusspp. shows potential to enhance oil recovery

“…Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is a cost‐effective and environmentally‐friendly method for the extraction of heavy oil, which has been successfully applied in field trials worldwide 7‐9 . MEOR is a biologically‐based technology that uses microorganisms or their metabolites to increase recovery of residual oil; it was first proposed in the 1920s and was developed in the early 1980s 10 .…”