Microbial Communities in Oil Reservoirs
Author Information
Author(s): Ren Hong-Yan, Zhang Xiao-Jun, Song Zhi-yong, Rupert Wieger, Gao Guang-Jun, Guo Sheng-xue, Zhao Li-Ping
Primary Institution: State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism and School of Life Science & Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Hypothesis
How are microbial communities in production wells affected by microorganisms introduced with injected water?
Conclusion
Most microorganisms introduced by injection water do not survive to be detected in production waters, and each production well has a unique microbial composition.
Supporting Evidence
- DGGE fingerprints showed that the similarities of the bacterial communities between the injection water and production waters were lower than between the two production waters.
- Only 2 out of 54 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and 5 out of 17 archaeal OTUs in the injection water were detected in the production waters.
- There were 55.6% and 82.6% unique OTUs in the two production waters respectively.
Takeaway
This study looked at tiny living things in oil wells and found that the ones added with water don't usually stick around, and each well has its own special mix of these tiny creatures.
Methodology
The study used denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis to compare microbial communities.
Limitations
The study may not capture all microbial diversity due to the limitations of the methods used.
Statistical Information
P-Value
<0.03
Statistical Significance
p<0.03
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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