In the technological battlefield of increased oil recovery (IOR), there are now beetles and bacteria out there fighting in your corner. Although the imagination does start to run riot with news of Scandinavian beetles potentially coming to the aid of freezing pipelines, the concept is sound.

When a major player such as Maersk Oil enters into a collaborative four-year project that aims to boost IOR and prolong North Sea (and eventually elsewhere) operations by using biotechnology to create new solutions and help overcome the challenges of mature field production, we must take note.

After all, we know the company does not do things by half-measures in this area – witness its recent announcement of a US $100 million investment over the next 10 years in a new research facility at the Qatar Science and Technology Park in Doha. This will create a world-class center for developing technologies for increased and enhanced oil recovery, initially focusing on the 300,000 b/d Al Shaheen field.

Maersk is doing this via a long-term collaboration with Dutch research association TNO, with the focus on long horizontal wells as well as IOR through integrated operations and production optimization. “Mastering increased and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is key to unlocking future hydrocarbons in tight reservoirs,” the company said.

The science connection at Maersk is highly valued.

Its “Biotechnology in Oil Recovery,” or BioRec, project also was announced recently, with the aim of answering those eye-catching questions: Can Scandinavian beetle protein help keep gas pipelines from freezing, and can bacteria and enzymes boost oil production in the Danish North? BioRec is a joint-industry project with Maersk Oil, the Danish Advanced Technology Foundation (H?jteknologifonden), global biotech company Novozymes, Danish oil company DONG E&P, and three institutions – the Technical University of Denmark, the Danish Technological Institute, and Roskilde University. A key aspect is that this project goes further than many others by linking separate industries – oil and biotechnology – through companies and institutions internationally recognised for innovation. Initial topics include:

Can enzymes and bacteria be used for EOR by feeding and growing in the reservoir to change the oil’s ability to flow?

Can proteins produced by coldwater fish or Scandinavian beetles to stop the creatures from freezing be replicated and used as a hydrate inhibition tool to stop ice from forming inside pipelines and wells? BioRec’s aim is to be technically able to implement pilot tests at relevant reservoirs offshore Denmark within four years. When we remember that it is accepted practice (but highly unacceptable) to leave half of a reservoir’s oil behind when it is abandoned, such projects take on great significance. EOR through injecting bacteria into the reservoir to change the oil’s composition, controlling pipeline corrosion through limiting bacterial growth via enzymes and other bacteria, or inhibiting hydrates by using animal-based proteins instead of chemicals all are potential solutions worth investigating.

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