Publications

Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) is one of the methods used at the stage of tertiary recovery to improve oil recovery. Based on the successful application of MEOR in USA, China and Oman, MEOR can be the best method in EOR. This method utilizes microbes to be injected into the well along with the nutrient. In the well, the microbes will be produced as a bio product that can change the characteristics of the fluid reservoir. The bio products involve acid, surfactant, polymer, gases, biomass and solvent depending on the microbe species. In the X field, MEOR had been applied in three wells as a pilot project. The microbes that were used in this pilot project are Clostridium Sp and Bacillus Sp based on the bio product that they produced and the compatibility of the reservoir screening criteria. Subsequently, the physical properties of oil in the laboratory and the data of the production of each well were observed. The results achieved included a decrease in oil viscosity up to 23%, a decrease of interfacial tension up to 35% and an increase of oil API gravity up to 16%, while the oil production rate after MEOR had been applied increased up to 32%. In addition, after MEOR application, there was an increase in the age limit of economical wells up to 6.1 years by using the decline curve method.