Oil and Gas Field Installation and Testing of an Automated, Online Bacteria Population Measurement Device.

Paper ID: C2025-00007 ABSTRACT: The activity of microorganisms is responsible for the corrosion of equipment, plugging of petroleum formation, and souring of the reservoir. The annual cost of biological corrosion to the oil and gas industry is estimated at $13.4 billion. Accurate, rapid bacteria population measurement is required to select, apply, and evaluate biocide applications. The study documents the installation and testing of an automated device on a fresh water supply tank on an oil production site. The device used an enzyme based assay that is established, proven, accurate and accepted assay that has been used for oil and gas application bacteria population measurement for the past 14 years. The test method adjusts for temperature, reaction time and sample volume according to an algorithm and used as a proxy for the total living bacterial population per milliliter in a water sample. The device was operated three month and was successful in measuring the presence of high bacteria loads and the effect of biocide application and depletion. The device successfully conducted the bacteria assay and uploaded the data through a dedicated cell phone interface to an online display.