When oil companies want to squeeze more crude out of an oil well, they usually turn to experts in physics, chemistry or engineering. But they are looking in the wrong place. The answer lies in biology. That at least is the view of microbiologist Bill Costerton, who told a meeting of the Australian Society for Microbiology in Melbourne last week that the tough colonies of living bacteria known as biofilms could make oil wells up to 20 per cent more productive.
展开▼
