Fixing the bubble

摘要

For seven years, in the Miller oilfield in the North Sea, BP has beenpumping seawater into the porous sandstone-based oil reservoir toencourage the flow of oil and maintain pressure in the reservoir.PhD research scientist Stephanie Houston studied the water pumped out with the oil, and made the surprising discovery that itwas significantly enriched in silica. Silicates were previously thoughtto be very slow to react, but the flow of water had increased the rateof silica production — silica that had dissolved in the seawater in lessthan a year.