Abstract
Sulfate reducing bacteria have long been recognized as principal inducers of corrosion within water, oil and gas systems. This study evaluates the potential to utilize the tester system to detect SRB in water wells as a possible bioprospecting tool. Here the findings reveal that water wells associated with ground waters overlaying oil and gas deposits may be more prone to very aggressive populations of SRB that generate a BT (blackening at the top of the tester in the oxidative zone). Comparable studies on water wells not known to be associated with oil and gas reserves generally had a lower occurrence of BT reaction when an SRB was detected and these bacteria were less aggressive requiring extended time lags to go positive. It was postulated that the reason for the very aggressive SRB generating BT reaction was that the SRB were growing within reductive niches inside biomass dominated by heterotrophic bacteria that were utilizing the soluble and volatile hydrocarbons emerging at the redox front from the underlying reserves. Second findings relate to the use of the SRB tester system to detect SRB within a gas well collection, storage and distribution system. Here, very aggressive SRB were detected generating BB reactions (reductive black sulfides deposits in the base of the tester) in those parts of the field known to have been impacted by pipeline breaks and had been subjected to segregation repairs. These initial studies indicate that the system as described has a high potential in the bioprospecting for oil and gas reserves and also for SRB monitoring of existing gas collection and distribution systems.
