Microbial Approach – an Underutilized Sustainability Technology?

Abstract In an era of sustainability push, the oil and gas industry need to have a revisit of its overall strategy. In addition to profitability, sustainability is another main development driver to consider. Out of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Guidelines (SDG), five are applicable to the industry (Capello et. al. 2020). They are: SDG #6: Clean Water and Sanitation SDG #7: Affordable and Clean Energy SDG #13: Climate Action on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions SDG #14: Life Below Water SDG #15: Life On Land Microbes are not a new focus area in the oil and gas industry, whether they contributed to favourable (microbial stimulation, EOR) and/or non-favourable (reservoir souring etc.) conditions. Microbial based technology is worth a re-evaluation since it can be considered one of the most environmental-friendly technologies available. This paper will focus on PETRONAS experience with microbial based technology studies. As we moved towards energy transition, PETRONAS is also looking into technologies which can support carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) implementation and hydrogen generation. From this perspective, methane generation (methanogenesis), and subsurface hydrogen generation (dark fermentation) is worthy of consideration. The paper highlights some of PETRONAS experience with focus on microbial EOR (at laboratory and pilot scale). Methanogenesis (at laboratory scale) and conceptual biohydrogen will also be briefly touched.