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Bacterial diversity in water injection systems of Brazilian offshore oil platforms

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Abstract

Biogenic souring and microbial-influenced corrosion is a common scenario in water-flooded petroleum reservoirs. Water injection systems are continuously treated to control bacterial contamination, but some bacteria that cause souring and corrosion can persist even after different treatments have been applied. Our aim was to increase our knowledge of the bacterial communities that persist in the water injection systems of three offshore oil platforms in Brazil. To achieve this goal, we used a culture-independent molecular approach (16S ribosomal RNA gene clone libraries) to analyze seawater samples that had been subjected to different treatments. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the bacterial communities from the different platforms were taxonomically different. A predominance of bacterial clones affiliated with Gammaproteobacteria, mostly belonging to the genus Marinobacter (60.7%), were observed in the platform A samples. Clones from platform B were mainly related to the genera Colwellia (37.9%) and Achromobacter (24.6%), whereas clones obtained from platform C were all related to unclassified bacteria. Canonical correspondence analyses showed that different treatments such as chlorination, deoxygenation, and biocide addition did not significantly influence the bacterial diversity in the platforms studied. Our results demonstrated that the injection water used in secondary oil recovery procedures contained potentially hazardous bacteria, which may ultimately cause souring and corrosion.

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Acknowledgments

This study was carried out as a part of a project supported by PETROBRAS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Microbiologia Prof. Paulo de Góes, UFRJ, CCS, Bloco I, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Elisa Korenblum & Lucy Seldin

  2. CENPES, PETROBRAS, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Érika Valoni & Mônica Penna

  3. Laboratório de Genética de Microrganismos, Instituto de Microbiologia Prof. Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Bloco I, Ilha do Fundão, CEP 21941-590, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Lucy Seldin

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  1. Elisa Korenblum
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  2. Érika Valoni
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  3. Mônica Penna
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  4. Lucy Seldin
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Correspondence to Lucy Seldin.

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Korenblum, E., Valoni, É., Penna, M. et al. Bacterial diversity in water injection systems of Brazilian offshore oil platforms. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 85, 791–800 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2281-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2281-4

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