MICROBIAL

ENHANCED
OIL RECOVERY
 CONTENTS
 Introduction
• EOR
• MEOR
 History
 Mechanism
• Stimulation of oil production
• Wellbore cleaning
• Selective plugging
• Biosurfactants
• Microbial products
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 Environment al issues
 Current status
 Conclusion
 References
 TYPES OF ENHANCED OIL
RECOVERY

• Primary recovery-12% to 15%oil in well recovered

without the need to introduce the other substances
into the well.

• Secondary recovery-The oil well flooded with water

or other substances to drive out additional 15% to
20% more oil from well.
Poor Sweeping Efficiency
Poor Displacement Efficiency
 TERTIARY OIL RECOVERY
• Known as MICROBIAL ENHANCED OIL
RECOVERY ,use of microorganisms to additional
recover up to 11% more oil from well.
Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery
• MEOR is use of microorganisms to retrieve
additional oil from existing well thereby enhancing
oil production from oil reservior.

• Selected microorganisms are introduced into oil wells

to produce harmless product such as natural
substances or gases which propel the oil out of well.
 HISTORY
• 1936 Beckman proposed the utilisation of
microbes for enhanced oil recovery.
• 1947 Zobell released oil from strata rocks
using Desulfovibrio sp.
• 1954 Kuznetsov inoculated molasses
enriched media and observed the
gas production.
• 1958 Heinningen proposed the selective
plugging with microbial produced biomass
 contd…

• 1977 Yakinov observed the strain of

Bacillus licheniformis JF-2 in
enhancement of oil recovery.
• 1983 Bubela examined the effects of
reservior env.conditions on
microbial culture.
• 2004 McInemey examined the 200 strains of
Bacillus sp.in oil enhancement.
 MECHANISMS OF MEOR
• Stimulation of oil production.
• Wellbore cleaning.
• Selective plugging
• Production of Biosurfactants.
• Microbial Products
 MICROORGANISMS
• Desulfovibrio sp.
• Bacillus sp.
• Clostridium sp.
• Pseudomonas sp.
• Arthrobacter sp.
• Microbacterium sp.
 STIMULATION OF OIL
PRODUCTION
• Partial repressurisation of reservior by methane and
carbon dioxide.
• Reduction of oil viscosity through dissolution of
organic solvents in oil phase.
• Increase of reservior permeability and widening of
fissures and channels through etching of carbaneous
rocks.
 WELLBORE CLEANING
• Cleaning of wellbore region by Increasing the
average pore size.
• Various metabolites -
• Acids - react with various minerals,loosen
the clay and deposits.
• Solvents - dissolve the precipitated
organic deposits.
• Biogas – push oil from dead spaces and
dislodge debris.
 SELECTIVE PLUGGING
Selective plugging of highly permeable zones by
injecting slime forming microorganisms,increases the
sweeping efficiency and oil recovery.
 BIOSURFACTANTS
Biosurfactants are microbially derived surface active
agents that can lower the surface tension of oil and
act as slippery detergents helping the oil move more
freely away from rocks and more easily out of well.
Arthrobacter sp. Trehalose,sucrose,
lipids,fructose
Bacillus licheniformis Lipopeptides
Bacillus subtilis Surfactin
Candida lipolytica Sophorose lipid
Corneybacterium lepus Fatty acids
Nocardia sp. Neutral lipid
Pseudomonas sp. Glycolipid
Rhodococcus sp.H13-A Glycolipid
Torulopsis bombicola Sophorose lipid
Xanthomonas compestris Xanthan
 ADVANTAGES
• Biodegradibility
• Low toxicity
• Environment friendliness.
MICROBIAL PRODUCTS INCREASING
OIL RECOVERY
Selective plugging.
Biomass Modification of solid
surface.
Reduction of oil viscosity.
Alternation in flow
properties.
BIOGAS
Increase the High energy
Carbon dioxide(80%) pressure potential in oil field

Increase oil Give better oil

Hydrogen(20%) volume, mobilisation
decrease oil
viscosity

Methane Change pressure Increase oil

potential in production rate
fissures,pores
ORGANIC ACIDS

Acetic acid, Decrease pH up to Increase

propanoic acid, 4.8 permeability of
valerianic acid rocks

Dissolve carbonate
Dissolve the partially building up
carbonate rock new flow channels
Methane, Decreases Forces the imbibition of
ethanol, interfacial tension injected,fermented
propanol, molasses media into pore
canals to give more oil
butanol from rock

Increase wettability
Biolipid Alter the rock break oil/water barriers
creating emulsion leading
to improved flow rate
 ADVANTAGES OF MEOR
• Cheap
• Environmentally acceptable alternative.
• Ability to grow on low cost nutrients.
• Small size help them to penetrate deep into oil wells
enhancing oil recovery.
• Do not consume large amount of energy.
 DISADVANTAGES OF MEOR
• Need a standardized framework for evaluating
microbial activity.
• Exogenous microbes require facilities for cultivation.
• Oxygen deployed in aerobic MEOR act as corrosive
agent on non resistant equipments and pipelines.
• Plugging of reservoirs due to aggregation of cell mass
or precipitation of metabolites.
 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

(A) Subsurface water

Migration of organism or metabolites into groundwater.
(B) Waste water
Spent fluids due to additional drilling.
Equipment washing.
Media and Chemicals used for pH adjustment.
(C) Atmospheric emission
Hydrogen sulphide production.
(D) Solid wastes
Bacteria in filter solids.
 CURRENT STATUS
• TITAN INC.-Changing the skin surface of microbes
to induce a unique oleophilic activity which dislodges
and breakdown oil droplets and create natural
emulsion.

• New project at Daquing field in CHINA to change

the structure of polymers to strengthen their ability to
break down the long carbon chains of high density
crude oil.
 Contd….

• TERI,Delhi and ONGC,Gujarat – Development of

Thermophilic paraffin degrading strain consortium S
2 for prevention of paraffin deposition inside the oil
well tubing.
 BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MEOR
• MEOR is direct application of Biotechnology.Use of
Genetic engineering and Recombinant DNA
technology to develop the strains of bacteria with oil
recovery traits and susceptibility to adverse
conditions.

• Recombinant strain of Bacillus mojavensis JF-2,RrB-

2 having high efficiency.
 CONCLUSION
• MEOR reduces or eliminates the need to use the
harsh chemicals during oil drilling .MEOR will
become increasingly economically feasible as genetic
engineering develops.

• Methods for developing and growing MEOR bacteria

are improving, lowering the production cost making
it more attractive alternative to traditional chemical
methods.
 REFERENCES
• Belyaev S.S,Borzenkov I.A,Ibatullin T.N, May
17,2004 Use of microorganisms in Biotechnology
for enhancement of oil recovery,Microbiology,vol
73(5):pg 590-598
• Jang L.K, Yen T.F. 1990 ,Mechanism of MEOR In
MEOR Principle and practice :pg 158-163
• Microbial enhanced oil recovery,retrieved May
5,2002 from Environmental Biotechnologies
inc.www.e-b-t.com/meor.htm
• www.abc.edu/chyn/lect/lect-11 htm
• http//findarticals.com/p/articals/mi_m3159
• http.//wikipedia.org/wiki/MEOR