Microorganisms can be both beneficial and harmful to the oil and gas industry and therefore there is an increasing need for the oil industry to characterize, quantify and monitor microbial communities in real time. Oilfield Microbiology offers a fundamental insight into how molecular microbiological methods have enabled researchers in the field to analyze and quantify in situ microbial communities and their activities in response to changing environmental conditions. Such information is fundamental to the oil industry to employ more directed, cost-effective strategies to prevent the major problems associated with deleterious microbial activities (e.g., souring and biocorrosion), as well as to encourage beneficial microbe activity (e.g. oil bioremediation).
The aim of the book is to understand how the technological advances in molecular microbiological methods over the last two decades are now being utilized by the oil industry to address the key issues faced by the sector. This book contains a comprehensive collection of chapters written by invited experts in the field from academia and industry and provides a solid foundation of the importance of microbes to the oil and gas industry. It is aimed at microbial ecologists, molecular biologists, operators, engineers, chemists, and academics involved in the sector.
Torben Lund Skovhus is a researcher and project manager at VIA University College in the Centre of Applied Research and Development in Building, Energy and Environment (Horsens, Denmark). He graduated from Aarhus University, Denmark, in 2002 with a master's degree (cand.scient.) in biology. In 2005 he earned a PhD from the Department of Microbiology, Aarhus University. In 2005, Torben was employed at Danish Technological Institute (DTI) in the Centre for Chemistry and Water Technology, where he was responsible for the consultancy activities for the oil and gas industry around the North Sea. Torben was heading DTI Microbiology Laboratory while he was developing several consultancy and business activities with the oil and gas industry. He founded DTI Oil and Gas in both Denmark and Norway, where he was team and business development leader for five years. Thereafter Torben worked as project manager at DNV GL (Det Norske Veritas) in the field of corrosion management in both Bergen and Esbjerg. Torben is currently chair of NACE TEG286X and ISMOS TSC, an organization he cofounded in 2006. He is an international scientific reviewer and the author of 50+ technical and scientific papers and book chapters related to industrial microbiology, applied biotechnology, corrosion management, oilfield microbiology, water treatment and safety, reservoir souring, and biocorrosion. He is coeditor of Applied Microbiology and Molecular Biology in Oilfield Systems (Springer, 2011); 3rd International Symposium on Applied Microbiology and Molecular Biology in Oil Systems (Elsevier, 2013); Applications of Molecular Microbiological Methods (Caister Academic Press, 2014); and Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion in the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry (CRC Press, 2017).
Corinne Whitby is a senior lecturer in environmental microbiology at Essex University with over 15 years' research experience. Her research focuses on the following areas: (1) microbes involved in N/C cycling, (2) microbial biodegradation of hydrocarbons specifically naphthenic acids (NAs), (3) impact of nanoparticles on microbial communities, and (4) microbial communities in bioaerosols. She is currently PI on several research grants (totalling over £3.9M) including a 3-year NERC funded project "The role of lateral exchange in modulating the seaward flux of C, N, P" (NE/J011959/1), a 3-year NERC-funded project with Forest Research to analyze the "Spatio-temporal dynamics of microbial community structure and function across an afforestation chronosequence" (NE/K006924/1). She is co-i on an EU-funded project for FrameWork 7 (FP7) to measure "Human Exposure to Aeorosol Contaminants in Modern Microenvironments" (HEXACOMM). Her applied work has always been knowledge-exchange driven, working closely with end-user beneficiaries, particularly the oil industry. Since post, at Essex University her research has centered on developing novel and effective biological technologies to treat toxic hydrocarbon contaminated wastewaters, which has led to two current patent applications. In addition to research, she has extensive undergraduate and postgraduate teaching experience, including module organizer and curriculum development for environmental microbiology, biotechnology, and molecular biology. Dr. Whitby has more than 10 years' experience preparing and delivering lectures, practicals, workshops, and tutorials at all levels as well as assessment of exams/coursework.
