Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery and Wettability Research Program. Annual report, FY 1991

摘要

This report covers research results for fiscal year 1991 for the Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) and Wettability Research Program conducted by EG&G Idaho, Inc. at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory ONEL) for the US Department of Energy Idaho Field Office (DOE-ID). The program is funded by the Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy, and managed by DOE-ID and the Bartlesville Project Office (BPO). The objectives of this multi-year program are to develop MEOR systems for application to reservoirs containing medium to heavy crude oils and to design and implement an industry cost-shared field demonstration project of the developed technology. An understanding of the controlling mechanisms will first be developed through the use of laboratory scale testing to determine the ability of microbially mediated processes to recover oil under reservoir conditions and to develop the design criteria for scale-up to the field. Concurrently with this work, the isolation and characterization of microbial species collected from various locations including target oil field environments is underway to develop more effective oil recovery systems for specific applications. Research focus includes the study of biogenic product and formation souring processes including mitigation and prevention. Souring research performed in FY 1991 also included the development of microsensor probe technology for the detection of total sulfide in collaboration with the Montana State University Center for Interfacial Microbial Process Engineering (CIMPE). Wettability research is a multi-year collaborative effort with the New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center (NMPRRC) at the New Mexico institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM to evaluate reservoir wettability and its effects on oil recovery. Results from the wettability research will be applied to determine if alteration of wettability is a significant contributing mechanism for MEOR systems.