Chronicle

CHRONICLE SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM As part of the St. Bonaventure University Centennial Year an International Science Symposium concerning Sulfate Reducing Bacteria and Their Relation to the Secondary Recovery of Oil was held at St. Bonaventure University on October 23 and 24, 1957. In attendance were one hundred twenty-five leading scientists from sixteen states and four countries including Canada, England, Chile and the United States, as well as representatives from the oil industry who came from widely scattered areas. A welcome was extended to the participants by Very Rev. Brian Lhota, OFM, President of St. Bonaventure University and the Panel Members were introduced by Dr. Kenneth Anderson, the Symposium Chairman and Head of the Department of Biology, St. Bonaventure University. The topic considered by the Symposium is of extreme importance because oil is either recovered by direct pumping or by secondary recovery which is accomplished by pushing the oil from the oil sands by water under heavy pressure. As time goes on the latter method is being employed more and more and it may even become the sole method used in oil recovery. However, as the panelists pointed out, the use of water for the recovery of oil is not without its disadvantages, and one of the principal ones has to do with sulfate reducing bacteria which are responsible for from one to five million dollars damage in a single oil field each year because of the resultant clogging and corrosive action of the bacteria. The exchange of ideas among the participants at the Symposium is expected to have important results in the oil industry in the United States and elsewhere since the amount of oil obtained by direct recovery is fast dwindling and secondary recovery is of vital importance to meet the ever-growing demands for oil. The initial speaker was Dr. Claude ZoBeIl from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California , LaJoIIa, California who delivered a scholarly address on "The Ecology of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria". Dr. ZoBeIl, after years of research with desulfovibrio has found these organisms on land and sea and below and above the surfaces of both living in a wide range of environmental 391 392Chronicle conditions including temperature, pressure, salinity and nutritional factors. The physiological aspects of these bacteria were discussed by noted scientists from two continents. Dr. Robert Starkey, Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, informed the panel and guests about his work on "The General Physiology of the Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in Relation to Corrosion," while "The Biochemical Physiology of the Sulfate Reducing Bacteria" was the topic of the exemplary paper discussed by Dr. John R. Postgate, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Teddington, England. Both scientists made known the results of their meticulous studies relating to the physiology of these organisms, with Dr. Starkey emphasizing their corrosive action while Dr. Postgate concentrated on the fundamental biochemistry of the organisms. The second day commenced with a skillfully handled talk by Dr. Ray Allred, Central Research Division Continental Oil Company, Ponca City, Oklahoma on "Methods used for Counting of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria and for the Screening of Bactericides". In addition to telling about laboratory techniques and field operations to determine the bacteria count in produced water, Dr. Allred discussed the problems involved in killing and inhibiting bacterial growth. Cost is at present the determining factor in the type and quantity of inhibitor used. In addition to the planned inhibition which was discussed in detail, Dr. Allred pointed out that natural inhibition sometimes occurred due to the lack of: hydrogen donors, organic matter, sulfate; or due to the presence of ground contaminators. Dr. O. B. William, Department of Bacteriology, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas in an address entitled "A Comparison of the Susceptibility of Various Strains of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria to the Action of Bactericides" compared several types of sulfate reducing bacteria as to their sensitivity to various chemicals. One of the highlights of the Symposium was a banquet in Hickey Memorial Dining Hall Wednesday night at which time Philip C. Launiger of Tulsa, Oklahoma was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree. Dr. Lauinger is Director of Continental Oil Company, Director of the National Bank of Tulsa, Director of...