December 2012, Vol. 239 No. 12
In The News
GTI, Spyglass Plan Platform To Manage Microorganisms In Oil And Gas
Gas Technology Institute and Spyglass Biosecurity, Inc. plan to jointly develop a new portable, automated water laboratory platform for monitoring bio-corrosion and gas souring. The system will provide rapid data about the presence of potentially harmful microorganisms in water used for petroleum resource production. It will also offer other onboard sensing functions to measure the chemical and biological composition of water samples.
With increased unconventional gas production, this will provide valuable information about the quality of water used in upstream processes. “It is important to know whether there are corrosion-causing microorganisms present that can contaminate the well and sour the gas, affecting gas quality,” said Al Darzins, R&D director at GTI.
The effort represents a unique approach to protecting natural gas resources and maintaining a safe and reliable delivery system, said GTI.
“For years, GTI researchers have been working to develop very accurate genetic-based quantification methods such as qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) to address the challenges of microbially influenced corrosion (MIC),” said Kristine Wiley, senior scientist in the infrastructure sector of GTI.
“This is an opportunity for more effective monitoring and control of corrosion-causing microbes that can damage production and transmission operations in the oil and gas industry.”
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