A Review Paper on Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery Applications Projects

Abstract

Being unable to produce more than 35%-55% of the original oil in place after the application of primary and secondary oil recovery techniques gave rise to the need for developing enhanced oil recovery techniques, hence the necessity to carry out further research on MEOR arose. In this paper, the mechanisms behind MEOR were discussed and also the factors that affect the effectiveness of these microbes in the reservoir. Data from a field practice of MEOR was also properly discussed. Three different MEOR cases were compared namely; the San Andres project, the Tupungato-Refugio project, and the Xinjiang project. The data of the projects were judiciously studied, analysed and used to compare one another to ascertain reasons that may or may not have favoured MEOR and the extent to which it affects. The oil and water production data for the three cases were analysed and represented with a chart and the Xinjiang project appeared to be the most successful case of MEOR application. In the three scenarios, we noticed a sharp rise in the oil production immediately after MEOR was carried out and it surpassed the traditional rise achieved when ordinary water flooding was done. This indicates that the microbes were at work and their effect was evident. In conclusion, it was highlighted that the reservoir whose properties are best suited for MEOR will most likely experience a better result. MEOR can become the standard tertiary method of optimising crude oil production if more research is made and there’s really an endless possibility of what’s to be achieved with MEOR.