(512r) Bio-Oilfield Chemicals for Upstream Oil and Gas Applications

The continuous growth in the world energy demand, mainly for oil and gas, leads to increased demand for oilfield chemicals that are essential at all stages of crude oil production operations. According to Compound Annual Growth Rate analysis, the global oilfield chemicals market is expected to grow up to USD 16.41 billion by 2026. Rise in global oil and gas exploration and production operations is primarily driving the demand for oilfield chemicals, at least for the next five years. With substantial annual costs of oilfield chemicals, in addition to potential hazardous impacts on the environment and water resources, there is an urgent need for better alternatives to overcome these challenges. In the meantime, research efforts in extremophiles have been growing over the years due to their high potential in different industrial sectors. Extremophiles are microorganisms that can thrive in harsh conditions such as high salinity, temperatures and pressure. Due to their broad and versatile metabolic capabilities, these microorganisms can produce vigorous enzymes (extremozymes) and biological products that can be utilized in various Oil and Gas (O&G) applications. In many research studies, these bio-products have shown promising roles in upstream applications such as improved oil recovery (IOR), biofouling treatment and oil upgrading. These bio-products, such as biosurfactants and biopolymers, offer better alternatives than several synthetic chemicals currently used. The first advantage of extremophile bio-products is the capability of extremophilic bacteria to thrive in extreme conditions of highly toxic, hydrophobic, low water activity, and high pressure, temperature, and salinity conditions in oil reservoirs. Thus, extremophiles show immense potential to resolve a number of upstream oil harvesting-related challenges because it is directed towards generating a wide range of robust and highly efficient bio-based chemicals function effectively under harsh reservoir conditions. The second advantage of extremophiles’ bio-products is their cost efficiency, for bio-products produced locally via relatively cheap fermentation processes, which might translates into huge economic advantages. The third advantage is the biocompatibility of these bio-products as they are produced from natural resources, thus they possess the advantage of biodegradability and lower toxicity traits. For this purpose, the first crucial step is to acquire a complete picture of the oil reservoirs’ microbial ecology to better understand the microbial community structure and interactions of these extremophiles in oilfield samples. Thus, metagenomics study using samples from different reservoir phases demonstrates the metabolic capabilities in this consortium of bacteria, with more focus on extremozymes and targeted biological products for oil production operations.