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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1552006
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Corrosion and Material Challenges in Marine EnvironmentsView all 5 articles
Unraveling the source of corrosive microorganisms from fracturing water to flowback water in shale gas field: Evidence from gene sequencing and corrosion tests
Provisionally accepted- 1PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gasfield Company, Chengdu, China
- 2Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
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As an insidious and often underestimated phenomenon, microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) poses a significant threat to the integrity and longevity of oil and gas pipelines. In this study, microbial community analysis was conducted to unravel the source of corrosive microbes in oil and gas pipelines. Three types of fracturing fluids and the flowback water were analyzed based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Bacteria with multiple metabolic functions, including sulfate-reducing bacteria, acid producing bacteria, petroleum oil-degrading bacteria, and nitrate-reducing bacteria, were found in the flowback water. Comparative analysis on the fracturing fluids and the flowback water showed that corrosive Thermodesulfobacterium and Desulfobacterota originated from the underground rocks. While other microorganisms such as Desulfomicrobium, Acinetobacter and Acetobacterium may be introduced via the fracturing water. The weight loss of steel coupons in fracturing and flowback water were 35.04 ± 7.57 mpy and 28.07 ± 4.49 mpy, respectively. The corrosion weight caused by the fracturing water may accounts for 75.16% of the whole corrosion during the 5 days' immersion under laboratory conditions. The results provide a reference for tracing the sources of corrosive microorganisms and controlling microbially induced corrosion in shale gas resources.
Keywords: microbially influenced corrosion, Fracturing water, Flowback water, Weight Loss, Shale gas resources
Received: 27 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wen, Zhang, Tang, Yuan, Guan and Duan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yanran Wang, PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gasfield Company, Chengdu, China
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