Petroleum Industry

Biofilms are implicated in a wide range of petroleum process problems, from the production field to the gas station storage tank.  In the field, sulfate reducing biofilm bacteria produce hydrogen sulfide (soured oil).  In the process pipelines, biofilm activity develops slimes which impede filters and orifices.  Biofilm and biofilm organisms also cause corrosion of pipeline and petroleum process equipment.  These problems can be manifested throughout an oil or gas production facility to the point where fouling and corrosive biofilm organisms have even been found on the surfaces of final product storage tanks.

Areas of CBE research on biofilms in petroleum processes include:

• SRB biofilm activity and souring of oil fields
• Biocorrosion

To find out more about CBE research on biofilms in petroleum processing, or to learn how you can attend a workshop or industrial meeting, please email Paul Sturman or phone 406 994-2102.

CBE Industrial Associate members in the petroleum  industry

Technologies developed at the CBE to control the souring of oil and gas have been successfully applied at the field scale.  In the Dutch North Sea, BP-Amoco implemented the CBE-developed Nitrite Souring Control Technology to successfully control the production of hydrogen sulfide from treated wells for over six months.