While it is known that microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) of steel pipelines is an inherent risk within the petroleum industry, further understanding of how operational factors shape the microbial ecology within these unique man‐made environments is needed. This study offers novel insight into how film‐forming corrosion inhibitors (CIs), chemicals that are abundantly injected into oil field pipelines to ward against acid gas (H2S and CO2) corrosion, can profoundly impact the ecology and activity of steel‐attached biofilms. The results reported here are useful for both, the prevention and mitigation of harmful pipeline failures and offer an explanation for the previously unresolved question of why MIC tends to be so highly localized in crude oil transmission pipelines.
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