Potential Uses of Microorganisms in Petroleum Recovery Technology

Abstract

Microorganisms were considered to be detrimental to the petroleum industry in the past. It is now known that they can also be beneficial in terms of oil recovery. There are three ways in which microorganisms may contribute to enhanced oil recovery (EOR): (a) microorganisms can produce biosurfactants and biopolymers on the surface; (b) microorganisms grow in reservoir rock pore throats to produce gases, surfactants, and other chemicals to recover trapped oil in reservoirs; and (c) microorganisms can selectively plug high-permeability channels in reservoir rock so that the sweep efficiency of the recovery process can be increased. In this paper progress in enhanced oil recovery through the use of microorganisms, whether in situ or on the surface, is reviewed, and field tests of the in situ process are reported.