Piezophilic, hyperthermophilic organisms found in oil reservoirs - cultivation under high pressure conditions

抄録

In order to explore the effect of high pressure on the cultivation of microorganisms from a petroleum reservoir, systems for sampling and high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) cultivation were developed. The procedures for sampling from oil wells and the transfer of samples to HPHT cultivation cells was designed to avoid loosing any constituents in the original sample and exposing microorganisms present in the sample to rapid pressure changes. The concept was tested using samples from different oil wells from a North Sea oil reservoir. High pressure was found to have a positive effect on the growth of microorganisms found in the oil reservoir. HPHT cultures were found to contain bacteria of the genera Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Bacillus and Paenibacillus and archaea of the genus Thermococcus.