Abstract
The acquisition of very large data sets on types of bacteria present in any sample is now routine. For the oil and gas industry, these technologies offer unparalleled opportunities to fill large gaps in the basic understanding of the bacteria associated with corrosion, souring, and biofouling. The ultimate goal of these studies is to correlate bacterial identification with changes in oilfield management practices, for example in the timing and chemistry of biocide applications or the choice of infrastructure materials. We have adopted an approach for interpreting this data by first categorizing the microorganisms based on physiological traits associated with corrosion, souring, degradation, and biofouling. These physiological traits include the capacity generate hydrogen sulfide, acid production, iron reduction, nitrate reduction and sulfur oxidation, and the ability to degrade oilfield chemistries. Here, we present a summary of the distribution of these physiological categories among a collection of samples including brines associated with a storage cavern and a corroding pipeline. These results point to the role of non-SRB sulfidogens, notable thiosulfate reducing bacteria, as well as iron reducing bacteria in the corrosion process.
