A novel bioprospecting strategy via 13C-based high-throughput probing of active methylotrophs inhabiting oil reservoir surface soil

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2024-05, Vol.924, p.171686-171686, Article 171686
• Main Authors: Xu, Kewei, Yan, Zhengfei, Tao, Cheng, Wang, Fang, Zheng, Xuying, Ma, Yuanyuan, Sun, Yongge, Zheng, Yan, Jia, Zhongjun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anomaly; High-throughput sequencing; Methane-oxidizing bacteria; Microbial prospecting of oil and gas (MPOG); Real-time PCR; Stable isotope probing
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171686

Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have long been considered as a microbial indicator for oil and gas prospecting. However, due to the phylogenetically narrow breath of ecophysiologically distinct MOB, classic culture-dependent approaches could not discriminate MOB population at fine resolution, and accurately reflect the abundance of active MOB in the soil above oil and gas reservoirs. Here, we presented a novel microbial anomaly detection (MAD) strategy to quantitatively identify specific indicator methylotrophs in the surface soils for bioprospecting oil and gas reservoirs by using a combination of 13C-DNA stable isotope probing (SIP), high-throughput sequencing (HTS), quantitative PCR (qPCR) and geostatistical analysis. The Chunguang oilfield of the Junggar Basin was selected as a model system in western China, and type I methanotrophic Methylobacter was most active in the topsoil above the productive oil wells, while type II methanotrophic Methylosinus predominated in the dry well soils, exhibiting clear differences between non- and oil reservoir soils. Similar results were observed by quantification of Methylobacter pmoA genes as a specific bioindicator for the prediction of unknown reservoirs by grid sampling. A microbial anomaly distribution map based on geostatistical analysis further showed that the anomalous zones were highly consistent with petroleum, geological and seismic data, and validated by subsequent drilling. Over seven years, a total of 24 wells have been designed and drilled into the targeted anomaly, and the success rate via the MAD prospecting strategy was 83 %. Our results suggested that molecular techniques are powerful tools for oil and gas prospecting. This study indicates that the exploration efficiency could be significantly improved by integrating multi-disciplinary information in geophysics and geomicrobiology while reducing the drilling risk to a greater extent. [Display omitted] •Identification of active MOB above oil and gas reservoirs is vital for microbial prospecting of oil and gas.•A novel strategy was developed by combining stable isotope probing, sequencing, quantitative PCR and geostatistical analysis.•The anomalous zones of active MOB were highly consistent with geological data and validated by subsequent drilling.•The MAD prospecting strategy led to 83% drilling success.