Degradation Studies on Oil from an Onshore Oil Well using Paraffin Degrading Bacterial (PDB) Consortium

Paraffinic crude oil flows freely at higher temperature, as temperature reduces it tends to crystallize, or deposit around the down hole tubular, or at the face of producing zones in the well bore regions. It results in complete blockage of crude passage and possesses severe production problems causing huge economic loss. This problem is overcome by using microbes as tertiary oil recovery and this technique termed as Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR). Oil rich in paraffin is degraded with Paraffin Degrading Bacteria (PDB) so as to mitigate deposition of paraffin in well tubing‘s, decreasing the pour point of oil and increase its flow rate. Wells in which production of oil decreases are treated with bacterial culture so as to enhance oil recovery from the field. Laboratory studies in Indian Institute of Reservoir Studies (IRS) at Ahmedabad showed significant reduction in the viscosity and the pour point of the crude oil.