Abstract
This chapter deals with the use of nitrate injection for reservoir souring mitigation in an oilfield with seawater injection in the Danish sector of the North Sea. Nitrate impacts on the activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and biofilm redox potential (Larsen et al., 2007), as a result of which corrosion due to SRB activity will be reduced, souring inhibited and previously formed sulphide removed (Larsen, 2002). One important aspect is that the microbiological reduction of nitrate provides approximately three times more energy to SRB than the reduction of sulphate. Therefore, when both nitrate and sulphate are present, nitrate becomes the preferred electron acceptor and SRB capable of growing on nitrate will dominate. Nitrate provides a competitive advantage to nitrate-utilising bacteria (indicated by the general acronym NUB) during competition for available carbon sources as the NUB are capable of much faster growth than SRB.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Albrechtsen T, Andersen SJ, Dons T, Engstrøm F, Jørgensen O, Sørensen FW (2001) Halfdan: developing non-structurally trapped oil in north sea chalk. SPE 71322, 2001 SPE annual technical conference, New Orleans, LA
Herbert BN, Gilbert PD, Stockdale H, Watkinson RJ (1985) Factors controlling the activity of SRB in reservoirs during water injection. SPE Paper 13978
Krekeler D, Cypionka H (1994) The preferred electron-acceptor of Desulfovibrio salixigens. Arch Microbiol 161:271–277
Larsen J (2002) Downhole nitrate applications to control sulfate reducing bacteria activity and reservoir souring (Corrosion 2002, Paper No. 02025). NACE International, Houston, TX
Larsen J, Dunsmore B, Schwermer C (2007) Investigation into Halfdan water injection biofilm using chemical microsensors (Corrosion 2007, Paper No. 07507). NACE International, Houston, TX
Larsen J, Rod MH, Zwolle S (2004) Prevention of reservoir souring in the Halfdan field by nitrate injection (Corrosion 2004, Paper No. 04761). NACE International, Houston, TX
Larsen J, Skovhus TL, Agerbæk M, Thomsen TR, Nielsen PH (2006) Bacterial diversity study applying novel molecular methods on Halfdan produced waters (Corrosion 2006, Paper No. 06668). NACE International, Houston, TX
Price A, Álvarez LA, Whitby C, Larsen J (2010) Detection of SRP activity by quantification of mRNA for the dissimilatory (bi) sulfite reductase gene (dsrA) by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (Corrosion 2010, Paper No. 10253). NACE International, Houston, TX
Reinsel MA, Sears JT, Stewart PS, Mclnerney MJ (1996) Control of microbial souring by nitrate, nitrite or glutaraldehyde injection in a sandstone column. J Ind Microbiol 17:128
Skovhus TL, Højris B, Saunders AM, Thomsen TR, Agerbæk M, Larsen J (2009) Practical use of new microbiology tools in oil production. SPE Production & Operations 24:180–186
Voordouw G, Nemati M, Jenneman GE (2002) Use of nitrate-reducing, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria to reduce souring in oil fields: interactions with SRB and effects on corrosion (Corrosion 2002, Paper No. 02034). NACE International, Houston, TX
Acknowledgements
Laboratory experiments and field monitoring were sponsored by DUC Partners (A.P. Møller-Mærsk, Shell and Chevron).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Netherlands
About this paper
Cite this paper
Larsen, J., Skovhus, T.L. (2010). Problems Caused by Microbes and Treatment Strategies The Effect of Nitrate Injection in Oil Reservoirs – Experience with Nitrate Injection in the Halfdan Oilfield. In: Whitby, C., Skovhus, T. (eds) Applied Microbiology and Molecular Biology in Oilfield Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9252-6_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9252-6_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9251-9
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-9252-6
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)