Objective
The oil industry is dominated by engineers, geologists, geophysicists and geochemists, but the importance of microbial processes in oil exploration and production is increasingly being recognized. The world’s heavy oil deposits, that dominate the inventory of global reserves, were generated by microbial activity. Understanding the factors that control microbial activity and subsurface oil biodegradation is important for pre-drill prediction of oil quality. Biodegradation-induced gradients in oil composition and therefore oil quality and fluid properties have important implications for production strategies and oil conversion to methane may be a strategy to enhance energy recovery in reservoirs reaching the end of their conventional life. Furthermore the significance of hydrocarbons in driving processes such as biological sulfate-reduction that can lead to reservoir souring and corrosion, is poorly understood. Researchers with skills at the interfaces between reservoir geology, geochemistry, engineering and microbiology are rare. The oil industry recognizes that a number of problem domains would benefit from individuals with both microbiological training in relevant disciplines and a wider appreciation of issues that affect the oil industry. Conversely many microbiologically trained scientists lack experience in the commercial sector and the issues that are important drivers for energy companies. This IOF aims to tackle both issues by embedding a talented environmental microbiologist in the research laboratories of a major European-based energy company (Shell). This will offer opportunities for the fellow to work in a dynamic commercial setting and gain invaluable experience vital for a successful career in a commercial research environment, while augmenting a microbiological research base in the company. Upon return, the fellow will bring what they have learned back to the academic partner and be in a position to develop their career in either academia or industry.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Call for proposal
FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF
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Funding Scheme
MC-IOF - International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)Coordinator
NE1 7RU Newcastle Upon Tyne
United Kingdom