Identification and phylogenetic analyses of anaerobic sulfidogenic bacteria in two Algerian oilfield water injection samples

Abstract

Corrosion of metallic oilfield pipelines by microorganisms is a costly but poorly understood phenomenon. For the first time, sulfidogenic communities in injection waters of two Algerian oilfields, Tin Fuin Tabankort (IT3) and Stah (IS2) were examined using the 16S rRNA gene cloning and sequencing approach. Water samples were inoculated into selective medium for sulfate-reducing bacteria and incubated under anaerobic conditions at 45 °C. The total number of culturable sulfidogenic microorganisms in the samples obtained from the two sampled waters (IT3 and IS2) was 2.4 × 105 cells/mL and 3.9 × 104 cells/mL, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy analyses showed different morphological forms reflecting the diversity of sulfidogenic communities. 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic diversity analyses revealed that both water reservoirs harbor large amounts of anaerobic bacteria. However, a majority of all the sequences analyzed (e.g., 34% in the IS2 and 84% in the IT3 samples) were not assigned to any known bacterial group, suggesting that subsurface waters harbor very large sulfidogenic anaerobic microbial communities of as yet undescribed bacterial phyla. Proteobacteria were found to be the most dominant phylum in the IS2 sample (49%); however, no Proteobacteria were detected at the IT3 production well. The Firmicutes phylum (10%) was detected in the two water samples, whereas Bacteroidetes phylum (7%) was retrieved only in IT3. The most abundant related genera were: Desulfotomaculum, Porphyrobacter, Hyphomicrobium, Acidocella, Comamonas, Ramlibacter, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter and Flavitalea. No shared operational taxonomic units were observed among the two samples analyzed, demonstrating the uniqueness of each subsurface water well. This study demonstrates the diversity of the sulfidogenic bacteria that might play a critical role in the souring mediated corrosion of metallic oilfield pipelines. This information could help oilfield companies develop better anticorrosion treatments and strategies