A study on the impact of microbes on oil transporting pipelines in Obiafun/Obrikom, Rivers State, Nigeria was conducted between 2011 and 2012. To harvest biofilms from the pipelines, ten coupons were placed into the inner surfaces of five pipelines (two per pipeline) and allowed for normal flow of petroleum for a period of 127 days. At the end of the 127 days, biofilms were scraped and used for the enumeration and identification of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB), total heterotrophic bacterial and fungal counts. Corrosion rate was determined by weight loss method. The results revealed the following species of SRB, Desulfuromonas acetoxidans, Desulfosarcina variabilis and Desulfobulbus propionicus. The bacteria species identified were Bacillus Cereus, Klebsiella oxytoca, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Serrratia marcescens and Halomonas subglaciescola. Among the bacterial species, Gram positive bacteria were more dominant with 62.5% occurrence and the Gram negative bacteria with 37.5%. the fungal isolates identified were mostly of the genera; Aspergillus, Verticillium, Saccharomyces and Microsporarium; Penicillum, Aureobasidium and Hormoconis. The mean values of corrosion rates in each pipelines were 1.6, 5.39, 1.0, 3.37 and 2.22 mpy respectively for 7 TUB, 6 LS, 6 25, 11ss and OBF31 pipelines. These results will provide baseline data for monitoring and controlling of biocorrosion in oil transporting pipelines.
Keywords: Impact, Microbes, Obiofun/Obrikom, Transporting pipelines
