CHARACTERIZATION OF SULFATE-REDUCING BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM OIL-FIELDWATERS

The occurrence and metabolic capacities of sulfate-reducing bacteria ( SRB) were studied in 23 water samples taken from producing wells at 14 different sites. Oil fields in France, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Guinea were selected and classified according to physicochemical para meters (salinity ranging from 0.3 to 120 g . L(-1) and temperature bet ween 29 and 85 degrees C). After the distribution of SRB within oil fi elds was studied, several strains of SRB were isolated and characteriz ed metabolically. Twenty of the thirty-seven strains were not related to any known species. Most of the identified strains were members of t he genera Desulfovibrio and Desulfotomaculum by molecular, morphologic al, and physiological properties.