Microbial communities of light crude from Nigeria and potential for in situ biodegradation, souring, and corrosion

Microbial communities in light crude oil were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing technique in order to determine their potential contribution to biodegradation, souring, and corrosion. Apart from the presence of Desulfovibrio in Meren oil with potential for souring and corrosion, the major threat posed by microbial community of light crude is biodegradation because majority of the microorganisms that dominated the light crude like Thauera, Halomonas, Marinobacter, Methanosaeta, Methanolobus, Planctomycetes, Pseudomonas, and Bacteroidetes are known hydrocarbon degraders. It is suspected that considerable concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the crude might have encouraged the growth of aerobic species and syntrophic utilization of substrates by hydrocarbon degrading bacteria and methanogens is likely responsible for massive degradation of oil in the storage tank.