Application of Biotechnology in Petroleum Industry - Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery

Biotechnology has gained Popularity in the Petroleum Industry in recent fillies due to its environment friendly approach. Various jobs undertaken by the Petroleum Industry involves high cost, complex operational implementation and causes environmental hazards. Implementation of Biological systems in these kinds of Jobs is a very good alternative. Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) is the usage of microorganisms to facilitate and increase oil production from all oil reservoir. This technique is applied after the primary and secondary techniques of oil recovery. It is estimated that in most of the oil reservoirs, more than 60% of the oil still remains in the well. Hence importance of this technique is validated. Also, it is a low cost process, and it uses the ability of microorganisms to produce a wide range of metabolites, which assist in oil mobilization by lowering oil viscosity and interfacial tensions, thereby, culminating into enhanced oil recovery.