Oil & Gas Industry - Microbial Insights

Challenges and Opportunities

We are delighted to serve as your preferred laboratory for molecular analysis. At MI, we know that the Oil and Gas industry has tremendous complexity due to the size, scale and breadth of its enterprises. This creates a significant number of challenges and opportunities. We know your needs vary from protecting infrastructure, maximizing profit while minimizing cost – from reservoirs through all parts of the supply chain and any cleanup.

MI has been providing unbiased, actionable data to the industry for decades and has developed products specifically for the industry based on that experience.

Corrosion

For more information call a service expert at 865-573-8188 or email us at [email protected].

Challenge

Corrosion is estimated to cost the global economy $2.5 trillion annually, approximately 3.4% of global GDP. Of this, as much as 20% or $500 billion is estimated to be due to microbiologically induced causes.

Costs

The damages that corrosion inflicts on companies, supply chains and communities are varied and can be severe.

Direct Costs:

Repair and replacement of asset.
Time, attention and costs of workers handling the repairs and replacement.

Indirect Costs:

Loss of production.
Environmental cleanup.
Safety Incidents.
Regulatory penalties.

What can MI do for you?

Whether you are proactively monitoring to identify microbial communities that may lead to corrosion before they can impact your asset or you are trying to identify the underlying cause to ensure your selected treatment strategy will solve the root cause, MI tools can help!

When trying to understand the unique microbial community within your system,Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) can give you a comprehensive view of what is happening.

If you need to monitor a system or evaluate the performance of a selected strategy use qPCR based tools like CENSUS© qPCR, a targeted approach for well understood situations, or QuantArray©, for a more comprehensive approach.

Outcome

Making smart use of these tools can help maximize asset life, reduce unplanned downtime, maintain revenue streams, and limit unwanted liabilities.

Reservoir Souring

For more information call a service expert at 865-573-8188 or email us at [email protected].

Challenge

Reservoir souring is the process where sulfate-reducing bacteria convert sulfate ions into hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). This conversion can cause a variety of losses to both the owner of the reservoir and any surrounding communities. Key challenges include:

Corrosion: H₂S is highly corrosive, leading to equipment failure, increased maintenance costs and potential safety hazards.
Environmental Impact: H₂S is a toxic gas that can pose environmental risks.
Production Loses: Souring can lead to reduced production rates due to equipment failures and changes in reservoir conditions.
Safety Risk: H₂S can pose risks to personnel working in affected areas.

Cost

Reservoir Souring and the corrosion it can cause cost the Oil and Gas Industry an estimated $1.4 billion annually. Some estimates suggest oilfield reservoir souring control may consume as much as one-third of typical production budgets. These costs range from equipment degradation due to corrosion, reduced production, potential environmental cleanup and higher processing costs.

Potential Support

Strategies to combat reservoir souring can include biocides for overall microbial suppression or bio-competitive exclusion by nitrate or perchlorate addition.

What can MI do for you?

When developing a strategy, MI's Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) can provide a comprehensive view of the communities involved, to help you select the most appropriate path for your unique site.

CENSUS© qPCR, a targeted approach for well understood situations, or QuantArray©, for a more comprehensive approach, can be used at two different points:

To monitor a reservoir that has not yet developed souring, to allow corrective measures to be used earlier when they are likely to be more effective and less costly.
To evaluate the performance of a chosen corrective measure, allowing timely intervention if the strategy needs to be adjusted.

Outcome

Making smart use of these tools can help reduce the costs and risks associated with souring.

Enhanced Oil Recovery

For more information call a service expert at 865-573-8188 or email us at [email protected].

Challenge

Over the next 6 years, the world's largest oil and gas companies are projected to spend just under $1 trillion finding and developing new oil and gas fields. This is expected to grow an additional 50% over the following decade. In addition, these same companies are projected to spend tens of billions of dollars annually on Enhanced Oil Recovery to maximize present resources.

Potential Support

Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) is a promising technology that leverages microorganisms to increase oil recovery from mature reservoirs. Some key benefits include:

Increased Oil Recovery: MEOR can enhance oil recovery by up to 15-20% especially in mature fields where traditional methods have reached their limits.
Cost-Effective: Compared to other Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques, MEOR often requires lower capital and operational costs.
Environmental Benefits: MEOR is generally considered an environmentally friendly approach as it utilizes biodegradable inputs and often products bio-surfactants that can aid in remediation efforts.
Reduced Water Requirements: MEOR can reduce the amount of water required compared to other EOR methods.
Byproduct Generation: Some microorganisms produce valuable byproducts such as biofuels or biopolymers, offering additional revenue streams.

What can MI do for you?

Successful MEOR requires an understanding of what communities the present conditions naturally create and effective monitoring to ensure that the strategy being pursued is progressing properly.

When trying to understand the unique microbial community within your reservoir,Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) can give you a comprehensive view of what is present.

Outcome

Making smart use of these tools can help extend the life of a reservoir and increase profit by relying on potentially lower cost strategies.

Remediation

For more information call a service expert at 865-573-8188 or email us at [email protected].

Challenge

The extraction, refinement and transport of oil happens at such a scale in the modern world that there are thousands of accidental releases of varying sizes every year. Potential locations includes over 300 major oil refineries and thousands of reservoirs worldwide. The United States alone has an estimated 192,000 miles of liquid petroleum pipelines, hundreds of thousands assorted petroleum transport vehicles, and an estimated 145,000 fueling stations. The scale of this industry insures that there will be occasional spills, no matter how careful companies are.

In light of this reality, the challenge is providing the most efficient remediation strategy, to ensure that you meet any project or regulatory requirements in the least amount of time using the lowest amount of financial and other resources.

Costs

Billions of dollars are spent annually on remediation efforts related to petroleum contamination. These costs are associated with various cleanup strategies, compliance requirements, and monitoring.

What can MI do for you?

Our tools can help you understand the current state of your site, monitor performance or Evaluate a Transition to MNA.

QuantArray® - Petro
The QuantArray®-Petro can simultaneously detect and quantify over 20 different gene targets related to petroleum hydrocarbon degradation within a single sample. Because the suite includes gene targets responsible for both aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation of BTEX, PAHs, and a variety of short and long chain alkanes, it helps to remove any guesswork in site cleanup decision making. Learn More

QuantArray®-NSZD
Within a single analysis, QuantArray®-NSZD quantifies over 20 different gene targets related to the microorganisms, processes and enzymes involved in Natural Source Zone Depletion of light non-aqueous phase petroleum hydrocarbons. Learn More