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An investigation of the efficacy of enhanced oil recovery by | 15675
International Research Journals

An investigation of the efficacy of enhanced oil recovery by means of micro-organisms in Niger Delta Reservoir

Abstract

Ikporo Bibobra and Okotie Sylvester

Microbial Enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is the improvement of oil recovery by the injection of microorganisms or their products into depleted oil reservoirs to increase recovery and extend oil production. This study aims to know the efficiency of the method in the Niger Delta region, hence Treated sandstone cores were obtained from some fields in the Niger Delta, re-saturated with brine and dead crude of specific gravity 35.7 0 and viscosity 0.41cp and treated with Bacillus and Pseudomonas species of micro-organisms, oil displacement experiments were performed at simulated reservoir conditions. The results obtained show an average reduction in residual oil saturations in the core samples of 23% due to microbial flooding against a 35% residual saturation at the end of conventional water flooding. The recovery efficiency also improved by an average of 21.63%, however, in the microbial runs of the first two samples the results showed that the incremental oil recovered disappeared gradually, indicating that these species of microbes are crude oil degrading, therefore it is recommended that a very rich and adequate source of nutrient be employed when using these organisms.

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