The process of microbial enhanced oil recovery

There is a lot of concern in the media that oil is quickly running out and that within half a century all of earth's oil will have been exhausted. Many believe though that the situation is being blown out of proportion but others are taking the suggestion much more seriously and encouraging further research. A lot of focus is being placed on maximising the available oil and also finding a suitable replacement as at the moment it is uncertain how much longer earth's oil will last.

One method which has already been developed considerably is microbial enhanced oil recovery. MEOR is a biological process used to maximise the amount of oil which can be extracted from oil reservoirs. The process involves altering microbial environment structures in oil reservoirs so that oil trapped in oil reservoir sandstone pores can also be extracted instead of being wasted.

Because the oil stored in the pores of the reservoir sandstone is residual it can't be extracted in the usual way and so a different method has to be used. The microbes in the sandstone are manipulated so that the residual oil is mobilised. Once it is mobilised it can be extracted just like the other oil is and so the amount of oil available is increased.

The ability to extract more oil than was previously available is obviously very beneficial to all parties involved. The oil company can obviously use MEOR to extract more oil and sell that for additional profit but it also means that there will be more oil available than was initially estimated. The process is still in its infant stages too which means it is likely to improve in effectiveness as it is further developed.

Because of the level of uncertainty at the moment the development of processes like MEOR are vitally important. The world is highly dependent on oil and it is used in the production and or transportation of almost everything we use. The additional oil made available by MEOR will mean that there is more time made available to discover a feasible oil replacement.


Get more information on enhanced oil recovery (aka EOR) techniques.