Distinguishing Evaporative Fractionation and Biodegradation of Petroleum – An example from West of Shetland (UK)
by Marianne Nuzzo
The effects of the alteration of petroleum in subsurface reservoirs due to microbial biodegradation or to physical evaporative fractionation processes are sometimes difficult to distinguish. Biodegradation is the degradation of petroleum compounds by aerobic or anaerobic microbes at the Oil-Water Contact (OWC) (e. g.