Analysis of bacterial diversity in two oil blocks from two low-permeability reservoirs with high salinities

The community diversities of two oil reservoirs with low permeability of 1.81 × 10(−3) and 2.29 × 10(−3) μm(2) in Changqing, China, were investigated using a high throughput sequencing technique to analyze the influence of biostimulation with a nutrient activator on the bacterial communities. These two blocks differed significantly in salinity (average 17,500 vs 40,900 mg/L). A core simulation test was used to evaluate the effectiveness of indigenous microbial-enhanced oil recovery (MEOR). The results indicated that in the two high salinity oil reservoirs, one reservoir having relatively lower salinity level and a narrow salinity range had higher bacterial and phylogenetic diversity. The addition of the nutrient activator increased the diversity of the bacterial community structure and the diversity differences between the two blocks. The results of the core simulation test showed that the bacterial community in the reservoir with a salinity level of 17,500 mg/L did not show significant higher MEOR efficiency compared with the reservoir with 40,900 mg/L i.e. MEOR efficiency of 8.12% vs 6.56% (test p = 0.291 > 0.05). Therefore, salinity levels affected the bacterial diversities in the two low permeability oil blocks remarkably. But the influence of salinity for the MEOR recovery was slightly.