Screening/Monitoring Bacteria Guideline

Petroleum Development Oman L.L.C.

UNRESTRICTED

Document Number : GU-486

Filing key : UEC/1

Screening & Monitoring Bacteria

Guideline

Keywords:
This document is the property of Petroleum Development Oman, LLC. Neither the
whole nor any part of this document may be disclosed to others or reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means (electronic,
mechanical, reprographic recording or otherwise) without prior written consent of the
owner.
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Screening/Monitoring Bacteria Guideline

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GU-486

Screening/Monitoring Bacteria Guideline

Authorised For Issue 11/10/2005

Signed : ...............................................
Michiel Jansen, UEC/1
UER, Head of materials and corrosion

The following table lists the four most recent revisions to this document. Details of
all revisions prior to these are held on file by the issuing department.
Version
No.
1

11/10/2005

Date

Author

Scope / Remarks

11/10/2005

Suleiman Al-Maskiry
UEC/13N

First issue

iii

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Screening/Monitoring Bacteria Guideline

Contents:
1.1 Introduction..1
1.2 Scope....1
1.3 Distribution..1
2.0 Background..1
3.0 Bacterial counting/monitoring tests..1
4.0 Bacteria screening/controlling methodology....2
5.0 Roles and Responsibilities........................................................................................3
6.0 Review and Improvement.....3
Appendix A

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Glossary of Terms, Definitions & Abbreviations

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Screening/Monitoring Bacteria Guideline

1.0 Introduction
The purpose of the document is to provide guidance to screen and monitor bacterial activity in PDO
liquid lines. The guidance will enable exploring lines suffering from bacterial corrosion attack and
assessing the need for biocide treatment.

1.1 Scope
It is restricted to pipelines and headers carrying liquid phase fluids.

1.2 Distribution
The document will be distributed to PDO Corrosion control engineers, contractor corrosion engineers,
pipeline maintenance CSRs, internal corrosion contract holder and production chemists.

2.0 Background
Availability of bacterial monitoring data within asset corrosion monitoring system is very important to
be able to set the correct corrosion control strategy. Bacterial corrosion is commonly known as a
corrosion type. The most significant risks in lines suffering from bacterial corrosion are fouling
resulting in plugging and under deposit corrosion. The sources of bacteria are such as:
Natural growth inside a line;
RO plants reject water injection in water disposal header;
Shallow water aquifers feeding water injection systems;
Reclaimed fluids injection in oil lines;
Un-cleaned static equipment facilities inside stations upstream of lines.
A number of pipelines in PDO do not have bacterial monitoring program and thus, there is a need to
establish such a program to take provisions against bacterial corrosion attack.

3.0 Bacterial counting/monitoring tests

Bacterias testing involves collection of line fluid or solid samples and then run a dilution in a number
of bottles. Most Probable Number (MPN) method should be used in this strategy for the calculation of
bacteria counts. The method is a triplicate of normal serial dilution method.
3.1 Planktonic bacteria test
A water sample is collected from coupons fitting point or a sampling point. The point should be left
running for a few minutes before a sample is taken. Sulphate Reducing Bacteria and General Aerobic
Bacteria counts should be measured and they represent the existing counts in line production bulk
stream.
3.2 Sessile bacteria test
The bacterial population on a system metal surface is more relevant to corrosion than the bacterial
population in the systems fluids. This is because only surface or sessile bacteria cause corrosion. Thus
a corrosion control program is ineffective unless it kills those surface bacteria.
3.2.1 Bio-probes
Bio-Probes are used to collect samples for bacteria counting. A bio-probe is installed in the flow
stream. The bio-films grow on the probe and the (typically 6) removable studs. Sequential removal of
one or more studs enables to quantify the bio growth over time and also provide information on the
morphology of corrosion attack.
3.2.2 Coupons
Corrosion coupons are used to collect samples for bacteria counting. It is necessary to crash the top
film layer with clean cotton. Then collect a sample from the coupon surface remaining bio-film by
separate cotton and immerse the cotton in sterilised water for dilution and counting measurement.

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3.2.3 Sulphide balance
This method is used to determine the sulphide concentration on bio-probes and coupons. In systems
where there is no indigenous sulphide present, it can be used to assess the activity of Sulphate
Reducing Bacteria and the potential for Microbial Induced Corrosion. It is required to preserve solid
products containing sulphide in Alkaline solution to avoid oxidising to air. The method steps should be
well followed to get reliable data.

4.0 Bacteria screening/controlling Methodology

The number of liquid pipelines/headers in PDO is high and it is not practicable to carry out bacteria
testing in each individual line. Therefore, it is essential to carry out the testing on basis of the risk of
Microbial Induced Corrosion. Thus, a screening program has been established for non-biocide treated
lines, which divides the work in four areas.
Screening
Sequence

Pipeline Type

MOLs

Inter-station oil
lines with high
reported bacteria
counts in down
stream MOLs
Inter-station oil
lines with low
reported bacteria
counts in down
stream MOL but
have possibility of
SRB activity
Water lines

Selection
criteria for
testing
All lines. No
criteria required

Bacteria
testing
Type
Planktonic

Minimum
Testing
Frequency
Yearly

Bacteria counts
in the down
stream MOL is
not less than
103/ml
At least one
bacteria source
is existing

Planktonic

Planktonic

Follow up
of first
screening
sequence
results
Yearly

Planktonic

Yearly

All lines. No
criteria required

Results
Report measurement
results into PDO
database
Report measurement
results into PDO
database
Report measurement
results into PDO
database

Report measurement
results into PDO
database

Table 1.0
The procedure starts with measuring the Planktonic bacteria counts of a line in the production bulk
using MPN calculation method. If the count is equal or greater than 103/ml or there is a change in H2S
level or a reported pitting corrosion in non-oxygenated environment, then a sessile bacteria count
should be measured to identify the real SRB counts at pipelines internal surface using the same MPN
method. Bio-probe tool is more suitable than coupons. Once the line is identified to have SRB problem,
then a corrosion mitigation strategy should be applied, which includes;
1- Biocide chemical injection. A treated line should be included in internal corrosion routinely
monitoring program, which consists of Planktonic and Sessile bacteria counts in monthly and
yearly basis respectively.
2- Physical elimination of bacteria source.

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Planktonic counts
(Yearly)

No

Conditions:
Planktonic counts 103
or
Change in H2S level
or
Reported pitting corrosion in
non-oxygenated
environment

Conditions
See attached box

Yes
Sessile counts

1-SRB Source physical

elimination remedy
No
Problem

Yes

or
2-Biocide
injection remedy

Routine
monitoring

5.0 Roles and Responsibilities

5.1 Preparation
PDO corrosion control engineer should prepare a list of all liquid lines for bacteria screening
measurements. He should report the lines that do not have fluid sampling collection point or installed
coupons or bio-probes. The suspected source of bacteria should be identified and stated in the list as the
line may have a priority. The engineer should also prioritise the lines according to the stated prioritising
scheme.
5.2 Execution
The contractor should carry out the bacteria screening measurements by MPN calculation method. He
should communicate the measurement results to the PDO corrosion control engineers before moving
one phase to the next phase.
5.3 Reporting
The contractor should deliver a report consisting of line description, sample collection date,
measurement date, type of test, bacteria counts number and recommendations. He should update PDO
database system such as PACER with the new data.
5.4 Analysis
PDO corrosion engineer should perform the analysis and set the correct remedies. He should be
responsible for inclusion of lines that are treated with biocide in internal corrosion contract routine
monitoring program. He should report the SRB analysis and remedies in ACR reports.

6.0 Review and Improvement

The procedure will be reviewed once every five years.

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Appendix A

Glossary of Terms, Definitions & Abbreviations

Company
Contractor
Corporate Functional
Discipline Head (CFDH)
User
Shall
Should
May

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Petroleum Development Oman LLC.

The person or organisation that supplies the Company with
services.
The person responsible for a discipline in the Company. The
CFDH approves Procedures and Specifications that apply to his
discipline
The person or organisation that reads and uses the information
in this Procedure
Tells you that you must obey the instruction
Tells you what the principal recommends
Tells you a possible procedure

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