Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery

The use of microorganisms and their metabolic products to stimulate oil production is currently receiving renewed interest worldwide. This technique involves the injection of selected microorganisms into the reservoir and the subsequent stimulation and transportation of their in situ growth products, in order that their presence will aid in further reduction of residual oil left in the reservoir after secondary recovery is exhausted. Although unlikely to replace conventional microbial enhanced oil recovery, this unique process seems superior in many respects. Self-duplicating units, namely the bacteria cells, are injected into the reservoir and by their in situ multiplication they magnify beneficial effects. This new approach to enhancement of oil recovery was initiated in 1980 and the first results were published in the proceedings of two international conferences