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oa From Syntropic Bacteria to Beyond SAGD! The Origin & Impact of Oil Viscosity Variations in Heavy Oil Reservoirs & Routes to Low Carbon Emissions Energy Recovery
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, Second EAGE Workshop on Tar Mats and Heavy Oil - Nuisance or Resources?, Sep 2010, cp-245-00007
- ISBN: 978-94-6282-042-5
Abstract
The recently discovered anaerobic biological conversion of liquid petroleum hydrocarbons to methane in oil reservoirs (methanogenesis), on geological timescales, occurs through biological action by syntrophic bacteria and methanogenic archaea at temperatures as low as 15°C(Head et al., 2003; Jones et al., 2008). As the oil is destroyed from the bottom of the oil column, large vertical and lateral gradients in oil viscosity are formed which impact optimal placements of wells for oil recovery (Larter et al, 2008). Understanding the biodegradation process that produces heavy oil and methane offers great potential both to improve recovery of existing heavy oil resources, through more efficient use of energy during oil recovery and also, potentially, to move away from oil recovery as the major energy process entirely! The discovery of the MADCOR process (Methanogenic Alkane Degradation by Carbon Dioxide Reduction), as it has been termed, raises many possibilities for reduced emission to atmosphere energy recovery (REAR) processes as methane is quantitatively produced from biodegraded alkanes, utilising water as co-reactant, with large amounts of molecular hydrogen being a principal intermediate (Jones et al., 2008).