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Subsurface metagenomics, functional microbial diversity analysis and gene discovery in deep and hot petroleum reservoirs - Biannual Report
Activity during the first four months of the project
Project manager: Nils Kåre Birkeland
Institution: Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen
The principal objectives of this project are to gain a better understanding of the diversity, physiology and genetics of the indigenous microbial population present in petroleum reservoirs. This information will both extend our understanding of the biological contribution to processes such as reservoir souring and petroleum degradation, but also highlight potential biotechnological applications that could be developed from organisms living under conditions of both high temperature and extreme pressure.
The present intention is to work mainly with produced water from the Valhall field (Norwegian sector, North Sea), previous work in this lab carried out in conjunction with Aquateam AS (Oslo) had suggested that the DNA content and by inference the bacterial cell density of Valhall production water was much higher than that which had been observed in water from other fields. This is of additional significance given that the in situ temperature of the reservoir is around 90º C.
The first four months of this project have been largely utilised in preparatory work and the establishment of key methodologies that will be used later in the project.
Foremost amongst these, the technique of DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) has been performed on a test system. In this DNA isolated from methanotrophic bacteria grown on 13C or 12C methane as a sole carbon source, was successfully fractionated into light (12C) and heavy (13C) fractions by ultra-centrifugation. This technique will play an important role in this project, in that it will allow the identification in the presence of a complex mixture of species, of a specific organism that is growing on a defined 13C labelled substrate. In the first instance the intention is to investigate organisms that can grow on acetate and other volatile organic acids, which are often found at high concentrations in production water.
The DNA previously purified in the lab has been used as the basis for 16S rRNA libraries. Clones have been isolated from these libraries for DNA sequencing to allow the identification of the species present. This work is still in progress, but it has already revealed some similarities to the spectrum of species found previously in Troll production water. The primary difference between these two locations is in the nature of the reservoir rock, that being chalk in the case of Valhall and sandstone in Troll. New samples of Valhall production water are expected to be available in late August; these will form the basis of next phase of the project.
I attended the 'International Symposium on Applied Microbiology and Molecular Biology in Oil Systems' (ISMOS-2) in Aarhus, Denmark and also a meeting to discuss the development of a Norwegian metagenomics consortium arranged by Kjetill Jakobsen at the University of Oslo.
Institution: Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen
The principal objectives of this project are to gain a better understanding of the diversity, physiology and genetics of the indigenous microbial population present in petroleum reservoirs. This information will both extend our understanding of the biological contribution to processes such as reservoir souring and petroleum degradation, but also highlight potential biotechnological applications that could be developed from organisms living under conditions of both high temperature and extreme pressure.
The present intention is to work mainly with produced water from the Valhall field (Norwegian sector, North Sea), previous work in this lab carried out in conjunction with Aquateam AS (Oslo) had suggested that the DNA content and by inference the bacterial cell density of Valhall production water was much higher than that which had been observed in water from other fields. This is of additional significance given that the in situ temperature of the reservoir is around 90º C.
The first four months of this project have been largely utilised in preparatory work and the establishment of key methodologies that will be used later in the project.
Foremost amongst these, the technique of DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) has been performed on a test system. In this DNA isolated from methanotrophic bacteria grown on 13C or 12C methane as a sole carbon source, was successfully fractionated into light (12C) and heavy (13C) fractions by ultra-centrifugation. This technique will play an important role in this project, in that it will allow the identification in the presence of a complex mixture of species, of a specific organism that is growing on a defined 13C labelled substrate. In the first instance the intention is to investigate organisms that can grow on acetate and other volatile organic acids, which are often found at high concentrations in production water.
The DNA previously purified in the lab has been used as the basis for 16S rRNA libraries. Clones have been isolated from these libraries for DNA sequencing to allow the identification of the species present. This work is still in progress, but it has already revealed some similarities to the spectrum of species found previously in Troll production water. The primary difference between these two locations is in the nature of the reservoir rock, that being chalk in the case of Valhall and sandstone in Troll. New samples of Valhall production water are expected to be available in late August; these will form the basis of next phase of the project.
I attended the 'International Symposium on Applied Microbiology and Molecular Biology in Oil Systems' (ISMOS-2) in Aarhus, Denmark and also a meeting to discuss the development of a Norwegian metagenomics consortium arranged by Kjetill Jakobsen at the University of Oslo.
Program for the VISTA Day 2009
VISTA Scholars' Day 2010