SPE 123303

Bio-Genetic Engineering, Future of Multi Microbial Culture EOR—

A Detailed Report
Irfan Kurawle, Mohit Kaul, Nakul Mahalle, Amith Nair, Nikhil Kulkarni, Zohaib Amin, and Vickey Carvalho, SPE,
Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune

Copyright 2009, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2009 SPE Offshore Europe Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition held in Aberdeen, UK, 8–11 September 2009.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery has been known to the industry for decades and yet the research has only been applied to a
selected few pilots where analysis of the in situ Microbes was made. The advent of Bio-Genetic Mapping of Microbes has
introduced us to various strains of bacteria that can be genetically altered to produce alkali and surfactant needed in chemical
floods in much higher concentration than previously thought. We conducted some initial experiments from which the
enhancement of recovery factor is significant. The results and data generated were then used in STARSTM a compositional
reservoir simulator to model the effect of various by-products (Polymer, Surfactants) generated by microbes on the recovery
process. The surfactants generated lead to reduction of Interfacial tension from 30 to 0.1 dynes/cm2, the polymers were found
to have properties as seen in natural polymers like Xantha and were resistive to salinity as well. The detailed report would be
summarized in the paper. It is interesting to note that the different species of microbes used were anaerobic and was suited to
survive at temperature of up to 600o F thus making it possible for them to survive harsh environments. Thus an overall
promising outlook providing alternative to expensive chemical floods is being presented with special application to depleted
reservoirs.

Introduction
Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery is based on use of microbes for increasing recovery by reducing the interfacial tension
by generation of in-situ surfactants, polymers to achieve favorable mobility ratio and other chemicals beneficial for the
recovery process. Microbes have also been used in reservoirs known to have paraffin and asphaltene problems for well
stimulation. The Microbes used are either developed in a culture in labs or microbes found in reservoirs are sampled and
grown in labs and then injected into the reservoir with nutrients to further aid their growth in the reservoir. In certain cases
microbes are known to give out gases like methane and CO2 which help in reduction of viscosity and mobilize oil which was
earlier immobile. Recent studies into genome mapping of various species by researchers holds a promising future for the oil
industry where the more than half of the oil is left in the reservoir and thus a potential target for MEOR.

Multi - Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery and Genetic Engineering

MEOR has existed for decades and various research and field pilot results exist in the literature. Lazar in 1983 was one of
the first to report the efficiency of using Multi-microbial culture and the robustness it provided to the process. Most of the
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microbes used produced similar effects and hence complemented each others growth as well. For the successful application
of an MEOR project a well thought meticulous plan is needed which involves intensive reservoir studies, compatibility
studies between various microbial cultures, reaction kinetics and stability analysis for microbes at reservoir conditions
(temperature, pressure, pH, salinity, etc). The primary intention behind use of multiple microbes is to generate chemicals like
polymers and surfactants which can aid recovery as in case of chemical floods, to reduce viscosity of oil making it mobile.
The various species of microbes that can be used for this purpose are Bacillus mojavensis, Arthrobacter, Clostridium etc. An
in depth explanation of the microbes and the process is beyond the scope of this paper and the reader may refer to the
references at the end of this paper.
Genetic Engineering is defined as a laboratory technique used by scientists to change the DNA of living organisms. DNA
is the blueprint for the individuality of an organism. The organism relies upon the information stored in its DNA for the
management of every biochemical process. The life, growth and unique features of the organism depend on its DNA. The
segments of DNA which have been associated with specific features or functions of an organism are called genes. This
knowledge can help in understanding the genome (gene structure) of our microbes and modifying them to produce larger
amount of chemicals needed for field level application of the project. The DNA can also be altered to for microbes to sustain
in harsh reservoir conditions.
The Literature survey also reported various success stories about new microbes being developed to digest heavy oil and
by-products like aldehydes, ketones along with methane gas being produced. Some of these strains were isolated from tar
pits where these bacteria’s are known to exist. In Canada, researchers are also trying to develop bacteria’s that can be
inoculated at higher temperatures along with hot water in tar sands to produce methane gas. Currently research is under way
for developing such microbial species by understanding their mechanism and by modifying the required structure so that
maximum potential for recovery can be developed.

Experiments and Modeling

To understand the process of Multi – Microbial culture where different species would produce chemicals to replicate a
chemical EOR flood but at a fraction of a cost of a normal chemical flood. Various core samples with different characteristics
were screened for conducting core flooding experiments. The experimental setup with the following characteristics was
chosen after literature survey and screening to best analyze the process and study the compatibility between the different
microbial cultures.

♦ Wettability: Intermediate to strongly Oil wet

♦ Average porosity: 0.25
♦ Average Permeability: 3 Darcy
♦ High Initial Oil Saturation
♦ Oil Viscosity: 60 cP
♦ Temperature: 60o F and 140o F
♦ Clostridium and Bacillus Multi Microbial culture
SPE 123303 3

The selected microbial culture is known to produce Polysaccharides and Bio-surfactants along certain other co-surfactants
that can aid in the recovery of oil. The culture was earlier placed with oil samples in an inert atmosphere to determine the
generation of chemicals. The following key inferences were made from the analysis
♦ Reduction in viscosity of oil
♦ Generation of surfactants and co-surfactants
♦ Generation of micro-gel systems
♦ Expulsion of methane and CO2 from the culture
When the culture was supplied with nutrients and waters the viscosity of water increased implying the formation of
micro-gels were actually polysaccharide based polymeric system. After fluid interaction studies, interactions of culture with
the core sample was conducted to determine the effects of generation of such chemicals In-situ and following key parameters
were generated from the core flood studies.
♦ Bio – Mass Generation
♦ Reaction Kinetics were determined
♦ Reduction in Interfacial tension
♦ Generation of various chemicals like surfactants, Micro-gel systems, co-surfactants, methane and CO2
It was observed that the amount of microbes observed in produced fluids were not proportionate to the anticipated amount
which lead to the conclusion that retention of microbes might be a possibility since some of the microbes might have got
adsorbed on the rock surface along with the gels.
♦ There was also reduction in water cut along with reduced permeability to water
♦ The surfactants lead to change in wettability of the core from Intermediate to Oil wet
♦ 10 - 15 % additionally recovery from the cores was observed for same pore volume of fluid injected

STARSTM an advanced chemical simulator was used to model the process parameters with data input generated from lab
studies. The simulation was carried out on a pilot model were a chemical flood process was being planned and the results are
summarized below.

Results and Conclusions

Microbial enhanced oil recovery technique can be a potential candidate for improvement of recovery factor and increasing
the ultimate recovery from fields past their secondary recovery. The cost of $1 per incremental barrel is quite economical
compared to other enhanced oil recovery methods where average cost would be $ 5 per incremental barrel. An overall
summary of the results:
♦ Incremental recovery of 10 – 15 % over waterflood
♦ Reduction of interfacial tension by a margin greater than 400 times
♦ Maintenance of reservoir pressure due to generation of methane and CO2
♦ Microbial activity found to be sustainable for up to 20 days and new slug needs to be injected
♦ Huff and Puff method may be the solution from field application point of view
♦ Use of tracers required to verify the displacement of microbes during field tests required
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Figures

Figure 1: Initial Oil Saturation at the start of Simulation

Figure 2: Sor after Microbial EOR Figure 3: Sor after Waterflood

Figure 4: Reduction of Interfacial Tension leads to increase in the log of capillary number
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References

1. A. K. Sarkar, J. Goursaud, M.Sharma, G. Georgiou, “A critical evaluation of MEOR Processes”, Marcel Dekker,
1989.
2. E. Donaldson, G.V. Chilingarian, T. Yen, “Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery”, Developments in Petroleum
Science, Volume-22, Elsevier science Publishers, 1989.
3. E. Kowalewski Et.al., “Analyzing Microbial Improved Oil recovery from Core floods”, IPTC 10924, presented at
International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha, 2005.
4. Qingxian Feng, Jiaxi Zhou, Fangtian Ni, Zhiyu Chen, “Application of Thermophilic Microbes In Waxy Oil
Reservoirs at Elevated Temperature”, SPE 71493, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition held in New Orleans, Louisiana, 2001.
5. R.M. Knapp Et.al., “Design and Implementation of a Microbially Enhanced Oil Recovery Field Pilot, Payne
County, Oklahoma”, SPE 24818, presented at 67th Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers held in Washington, 1992.
6. Saikrishna Maudgalya, “Experimental and numerical simulation study of microbial enhanced oil recovery using bio-
surfactants”, Dissertation for philosophical doctorate submitted to Mewbourne school of petroleum and geological
engineering, 2005.