Microbial biofilms can cause a lot of time-consuming issues and induce the deterioration of very expensive equipments in industries such as the food, health or oil industry. Problems and impact of microbioally induced formation damage are numerous in oil and gas applications: microbial souring (sulfate-reducing bacteria), spoilage during storage (acid-producing bacteria), corrosion of pipe-lines, equipement and storage tanks, biofouling and plugging of pipelines.

Biofilm in pipe section.(N. Zelver, from biofilmbook.com)

From “Microbiology control for oil and gas applications”, june 2012, courtesy of Dow and Schlumberger