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Microbial response to reinjection of produced water in an oil reservoir

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Abstract

The microbial response to produced water reinjection (PWRI) in a North Sea oil field was investigated by a combination of cultivation and culture-independent molecular phylogenetic techniques. Special emphasise was put on the relationship between sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB), and results were used to evaluate the possibility of nitrate treatment as a souring management tool during PWRI. Samples were collected by reversing the flow of the injection water, which provided samples from around the injection area. The backflowed samples were compared to produced water from the same platform and to backflowed samples from a biocide-treated seawater injector, which was the previous injection water treatment of the PWRI well. Results showed that reinjection of produced water promoted growth of thermophilic SRB. Thermophilic fatty acid oxidising NRB and potential nitrate-reducing sulphide-oxidising bacteria were also found. The finding of thermophilic NRB makes nitrate treatment during PWRI possible, although higher nitrate concentration will be necessary to compensate for the increased SRB activity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Statoil and the Norwegian Research Council through the Petromaks programme. The authors wish to thank Bente Edel Thorbjørnsen, Nirmaladevi Sivasambu, Rikke Helen Ulvøen, Bente-Lise Polden Lillebø, and Tove Leiknes at Unifob Petroleum, Section for Microbiology, University of Bergen, for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Integrated Petroleum Research (CIPR), Allégaten 41, Bergen, 5007, Norway

    Kristine Lysnes & Terje Torsvik

  2. Unifob Petroleum, Allégaten 41, Bergen, 5007, Norway

    Gunhild Bødtker

  3. StatoilHydro, Forusbeen 50, Stavanger, 4035, Norway

    Eva Ø. Bjørnestad & Egil Sunde

  4. Department of Mathematics, University of Bergen, Postbox 7803, Bergen, 5020, Norway

    Kristine Lysnes

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  1. Kristine Lysnes
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  2. Gunhild Bødtker
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  3. Terje Torsvik
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  4. Eva Ø. Bjørnestad
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  5. Egil Sunde
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Correspondence to Kristine Lysnes.

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Lysnes, K., Bødtker, G., Torsvik, T. et al. Microbial response to reinjection of produced water in an oil reservoir. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 83, 1143–1157 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2015-7

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