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Dealing with the bacteria that can make a well go sour
14/7/2026
8 min read
Feature
Reservoir microbiology is the study and practice of managing microbial growth and contamination in underground and undersea fossil fuel reservoirs – contamination which can lower the quality of the product, reduce output and destroy infrastructure. This is a massive issue for traditional oil and gas extraction, but one which also has an impact on carbon capture and sustainable energy. Ahead of the Energy Institute’s Reservoir Microbiology Forum (RMF) later this year, Toby Clark spoke to three members of the Forum’s committee about what the field entails and where it is going.
Dr Ken Wunch is Energy Technology Fellow at Lanxess Materials Protection Products, which provides chemical solutions for the energy industry: these deal with reservoir souring, microbial-induced corrosion (MIC) and biofilms and biofouling which can contaminate and obstruct equipment, pipelines and the reservoirs themselves.
‘Once primary pressure has stopped the production of oil, we have to inject sea water to keep the pressure up… But in doing so, you introduce literally trillions of bacteria into the reservoir.’ And monitoring these organisms is not easy: ‘The only snapshot you get is the fluid that’s going into the reservoir, and you don’t get the fluid till it comes out the reservoir. It could be a year later.’
Dr Heike Hoffmann is a consultant microbiologist with the Aberdeen-based Exploration & Production Services division of testing and quality assurance firm Intertek: ‘We’re dealing with microbes offshore, in platform installations, looking at bacteria which are dragged up with the seawater which is used in secondary water injection to increase the pressure to get more oil out.’ Real-time monitoring of bacteria in a reservoir is not yet possible, and Hoffmann confirms, ‘it’s really difficult to get samples downhole – we have to wait until they come back up.’