AboutKeith Patton Expertise I can answer questions concerning physical and historical geology, environmental geology/hydrology, environmental consulting, remote sensing/aerial photo interpretation, G&G computer applications, petroleum exploration, drilling, geochemistry, geochemical and microbiological prospecting, 3D reservoir modeling, computer mapping and drilling.I am not a geophysicist.
Experience I have 24 years experience split between the petroleum and environmental industries. I have served as an expert witness in remote sensing, developmental geologist, exploration geologist, enviromental project manager, and subject matter expert in geology and geophysical software development.
Organizations American Association of Petroleum Geologists
American Association of Photogrammetrists and Remote Sensing
Education/Credentials Bachelor and Master of Science
Registered Geologist in State of Texas
Expert: Keith Patton Date: 6/23/2008 Subject: petroleum microbiology
Question hello mr shenk
i'm a college graduate of microbiology. while in school i developed interest in petroleum microbilogy. i've been out searching for jobs especially in the oil industry and it seems there is no room for a grad with a first degree in microbiology except geology. i'm very sure that microbiology is very relevant in this industry. i'm not sure this is your field but i wonder if you shed more light on what course to have a masters degree in to be able to work in the oil and gas industry as a microbiologist.
thank you
temitope o.
Answer Temitope:
While I am not Mr. Shenk, I'll shed what light I can.
I worked at Phillips Pet Co in the 1980's and was involved with microbial prospecting. for about 10 years. The technology was first developed by the Russians in the 1930's. The thesis is that oil and gas seeps, serve as a food source for certain microbes. Over time they establish populations in the near surface and feed on the seeping oil and gas. Today there are not many surface oil seeps, they have all been drilled. However gas seeps are in large part invisible. Work has been done on identifying the seeps using multispectral data from satellites based on vegitative stress. I have a co-patent on one such technique using LandSat data. A co worker of mine bought a portable laser from Nasa and was looking into using it for identifying seep plumes.
When I left Phillips they licensed the technique to a company GeoMicrobial Technologies in Ochelata Oklahoma. They have a web site.
I was their chief geolgist for a few years. The technique was called MOST for Microbial Oil Survey Technique. I did surveys from Bolivia to the South Pacific. We had a full time microbiologist who cultured our specific microbes. We had an opportunity to work on the Exxon Valdez spill by culturing the beachs with our microbes to break down the oil, but the EPA stepped in and pushed us out. The steam cleaning they ultimately resorted to actually retarded the natural cleanup by killing native organisms.
Before I left Phillips I wrote a manual on the technique and still have it. In fact I have quite a library on the use of such methods.
Anyway, other oil companies delved into it as well. BP for one had a competing technique. I negotiated with them after I split with GMT on not so friendly terms, but they stayed with thier method. The Don and Dan Hitzman, the owners, father and son, are not the most ethical people I have worked for. The father is a capable scientist, the son is a hack. They misrepresented their data to unsuspecting clients. Pre-processed data was presented as raw data. Anomalous data was ignored. They would not have known statistical treatment of data if it bit them. They adopted a lot of the ideas I tried to implement after I left and are still in business. However their ethics have still not improved. I ran into two prospective clients at my former wife's bar in Katy Tx. They were considering investing in acreage in the central south pacific that I had surveyed in the late 1980's. It was a scam then and it was a scam in the late 1990's in a more attractive wrapper and fronted by a shill company out of Calgary Canada on behalf of GMT.
Now other areas of microbial interest in the oil companies is in the properties of oil. You need to try to contact someone in the Production engineering side of things, or the Chemistry department. I would get a listing of the company offices, there is such a directory and major libraries would probably have it. Called something like the Oil and gas industry directory. It lists all the offices and subsidary companies. Call them. Find out where they hire microbiologists. At Phillips they were in the Chemistry Division working on single celled protein, biomarkers for oil and other such projects.
I am sure Exxon still makes use of you guys. Arco in Prudoe Bay had pipeline corrosion problems we knew about that the announced a few years ago, we knew about it in 1989. We did the microbiological workup on some of the samples.
You might look inot reading this book: The Deep Hot Biosphere
It touchs on heretofore sacred dogma of the oil industry as to the formation of oil. It delves into the area and basis for microbial prospecting for oil and alot of other facinating information.
My personal email is keithhpatton at hotmail dot com.
