Oilfield Services Update

Autumn/Winter 2016

Investigating the potential of bacteriophages to control microbially influenced corrosionNCIMB is undertaking a lab-based research project to evaluate the potential of using bacteriophages as a means of controlling biofilms in oilfield systems.

The growth of microbes within bioflms contributes to serious issues in oilfield systems, including reservoir souring and corrosion. Current methods of biofilm control within the oil and gas industry include physical removal and treatment with chemical biocides. Although these methods can be effective, incomplete biofilm removal, or poor diffusion of chemical into the biofilm can allow regrowth to occur once treatment has stopped. Consequently a new, more effective approach to controlling biofilms could make a significant contribution to reducing damage caused by microbially influenced corrosion.

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, and it has been demonstrated within other industries that they have the ability to degrade the exopolysaccharide that is a key constituent of biofilms, and plays an important role in protecting the cells within a biofilm from chemical treatments.

For example, work has been undertaken to investigate the potential of bacteriophages as a means of tackling biofilm growth on medical devices, and the success of bacteriophages in degrading biofilm polysaccharides and infecting cells has also been demonstrated with bacteria isolated from a food processing factory.

If similar performance could be demonstrated using oil and gas industry samples, bacteriophages may have potential as a more effective and targeted means of biofilm treatment than currently deployed methods.

There may also be additional benefits associated with reduced use of chemical biocides.

NCIMB’s project, which has received funding from Innovate UK, aims to isolate and identify bacteriophages that are selective to biofilm-causing organisms in North Sea reservoirs.

We are using high throughput sequencing to study microbial populations in reservoir samples supplied by a North Sea operating company, and provide information on the relative abundance of genera of interest.

The efficacy of the isolated bacteriophages will then be tested against pure and mixed-culture microbial enrichments from the same samples before testing the bacteriophage against static biofilms on corrosion coupons and studs. Results will be compared with those obtained with current chemical biocides.

For more information about this project contact Oilfield Services Manager Cheryl Ross c.ross@ncimb.com

We are delighted to have launched our new, improved website, which gives much more detail about the products and services that NCIMB offers.Services are listed by industry sector and we hope that this makes it much easier for our oil and gas industry customers to find all the information that is relevant to them.

If you have any feedback on the site or have difficulty finding anything you need, please let us know by contacting enquiries@ncimb.com.

Oilfield Services Update

NCIMB Ltd

Ferguson Building, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB21 9YA

Tel: +44 (0) 1224 711100

Email: enquiries@ncimb.com Web: www.ncimb.com

NCIMB is developing a new online facility for analysing results from its MARA and LumiMARA whole effluent assessment (WEA) bioassays.

The MARA and LumiMARA multispecies bioassays were recommended by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), as part of their preferred approach to achieving full implementation of a risk based approach (RBA) to testing of produced water discharges. All UKCS facilities must implement a risk based approach by 31 December 2018 in accordance with OSPAR regulations. OSPAR is the organisation that manages international cooperation on the protection of the marine environment of the northeast Atlantic.

We have now past the midway point in the UK’s RBA implementation programme, which began in 2014, and have drawn on our experience to date to develop and improve the MARA software. The new online system will allow users to log in and analyse their results from any computer and has the potential to allow retrieval of, and comparison with, previous data.

All substances present in produced water contribute to the total environmental risk, and implementation of a risk based approach requires measurement of known substances to be combined with whole effluent toxicity

testing, in order to assess the impact of unknown substances and the combined effects of all components. Companies operating in the UKCS have already been undertaking chemical analysis as part of the biannual testing program, but whole effluent toxicity testing is a new requirement.

Using MARA or LumiMARA as an alternative to toxicity testing with a single species of bacteria is a very quick, simple and cost effective means of increasing the breadth and genetic diversity of toxicity testing - early trials, in conjunction with DECC, found that the range of results obtained using higher order trophic species tests, fell within the results obtained with MARA and LumiMARA.

MARA and LumiMARA have been recommended in preference to single species tests as part of an RBA to produced water testing, but the tests could be equally beneficial for other toxicity testing

applications. For example, MARA has been used for ecotoxicological analysis of leachate from drill cuttings.

We undertake MARA and LumiMARA testing at our laboratories in Aberdeen, and also supply test kits.

New website launched

Improved MARA software in the pipeline

For more information about NCIMB’s MARA and LumiMARA toxicity tests, contact Terry Dando at t.dando@ncimb.com or call +44 (0) 1224 711100.

Extension to SEPA licenceWe have been granted an extension of our SEPA licence that allows us to extend the range of isotopes that we can measure and report on. Our environmental radiochemistry service can currently undertake both alpha and gamma spectroscopy to report on activity for polonium-210, lead-210, actinium-228 and radium and daughters in a variety of wastes including scales, pig wax, sand, sludges, cuttings and produced water, but the extended licence will give more flexibility in the service we can offer, in response to customer demand. For more information please contact Cheryl Ross c.ross@ncimb.com