Molecular tools in oil and gas exploration

A principle objective in the Norwegian oil and gas policy is to achieve oil production for 50 years and gas output in a century-long perspective. The recoverable petroleum resources on the NCS were estimated to total 13.8 billion scm oe at 2001 and 28 % o ut of this remain to be discovered. There is no doubt that substantial oil and gas resources remain. Increased hydrocarbon concentrations on the seabed, often referred to as seepages, results from the migration of thermogenic hydrocarbons from deep rock structures. The geophysical methods are unable to provide assessment of the present vertical hydrocarbon flux at the actual spot, while the chemical method is limited by the detection limit of the analysis method used. The approach of the Petrogen techno logy involves the following improvements: In general bio-molecular methods are at least 1000 time more sensitive than microbial culturable methods and metabolic signals from non-culturable hydrocarbon oxidizing bacteria can be obtained. In a matrix such a s seabed sediments, where the microbial supply of carbon sources in general is limiting, a vertical flux of hydrocarbons may result in hydrocarbon concentrations undetectable by chemical methods, since the hydrocarbon is metabolised by the microorganisms at the same rate as the supply rate (steady state conditions). The main objective of this project is to develop bio-molecular tools for the purpose of identifying petroleum resources from seabed sediment samples. Through statistic methods and interpretati on of geological, chemical, microbiological and molecular analysis, 20 refined DNA primer pairs exposing oil and gas positive signature, will be selected from about 100 initial pairs. Development of bio-molecular methods represents a new technological dim ension in oil and gas exploration. A dediacted on board laboratory would make it possible in a few years to screen several thousand samples in short time by microarrays developed from the primer pairs.