Influence of the drilling mud formulation process on the bacterial communities in thermogenic natural gas wells of the Barnett Shale.

ABSTRACT: The Barnett Shale in north central Texas contains natural gas generated by high temperatures (120 to 150°C) during the Mississippian Period (300 to 350 million years ago). In spite of the thermogenic origin of this gas, biogenic sulfide production and microbiologically induced corrosion have been observed at several natural gas wells in this formation. It was hypothesized that microorganisms in drilling muds were responsible for these deleterious effects. Here we collected drilling water and drilling mud samples from seven wells in the Barnett Shale during the drilling process. Using quantitative real-time PCR and microbial enumerations, we show that the addition of mud components to drilling water increased total bacterial numbers, as well as the numbers of culturable aerobic heterotrophs

SUBMITTER: Struchtemeyer CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3147393 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature