Latest microbial enhanced oil recovery Stories

Researchers have taken a new look at an old, but seldom-used technique developed by the petroleum industry to recover oil, and learned more about why it works, how it could be improved, and how it might be able to make a comeback not only in oil recovery but also environmental cleanup. The technology, called "microbial enhanced oil recovery," was first developed decades ago, but oil drillers largely lost interest in it due to its cost, inconsistent results and a poor understanding of what...

By Gillette, Becky It sounds entirely unlikely: Could natural microbes in oil fields be fertilized in an enhanced oil recovery process that would allow twice as much oil to be recovered from fields previously considered "spent" than was originally produced? With soaring fuel costs causing grave concern about the economy and even national security, being able to recover more oil from old oil fields could have huge implications. And a researcher at Mississippi State University, professor...