Microbial community structure of a low sulfate oil producing facility indicate dominance of oil degrading/nitrate reducing bacteria and Methanogens

Analysis of microbial community structure of a low sulfate oil producing facility in Nigeria using 16S rRNA gene sequencing technique revealed dominance of oil degrading and nitrate reducing bacteria and methanogenic archaea in produced waters and oil samples namely, Marinobacter (37%), Azovibrio (21%), Thauera (10–28%), and Methanolobus (22%). On the contrary, the associated oil pipeline samples revealed massive dominance of potentially corrosive Methanolobus (60%) and Methanobacterium (25-27%). Further experimentation shows that the methanogens implicated in oil pipelines are corrosive moderate halophile that utilizes H2/CO2 and methanol as substrates. More emphasis should therefore be on methanogenic archaea as opposed to sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs) during mitigation plans for microbially induced corrosion (MIC) in a low sulfate oil producing facility.