The team of geologists and biologists from Newcastle University and Calgary University in Canada have been studying the little-understood process by which naturally-occurring bacteria deep below the ground converts oil and coal to natural gas over many millions of years.

They believe the process could be speeded up, possibly by feeding the bacteria nutrients like vitamins and minerals down boreholes.

If the theory works oil and coal reserves currently uneconomic to extract from the ground, such as many of the north east's coal fields, could be converted to sources of natural gas, otherwise known as methane.

The findings of the research, led by Professor Ian Head and Dr Martin Jones, of Newcastle University, and Professor Steve Larter, who works at both Newcastle and Calgary universities, have been published in the scientific journal, Nature.

It was already known that most of the world's oil reserves are affected by the bacteria, to some extent, reducing the value of the oil by making it thicker and more costly to extract.

Some reserves have been left in the ground because it would be uneconomic to work them.

Little was known about the process by which the bacteria 'biodegraded' the oil.

By studying the actions of the bacteria in laboratory tests over a two-year period the team of researchers found it was an anaerobic (taking place in the absence of oxygen) fermentation process that produced methane gas.

They now hope that the discovery can be applied commercially to oilfields and possibly coalfields.

Professor Head, of the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle University, said burning methane as a fuel produces about ten per cent less greenhouse gases than burning coal or oil.

"Clearly any development of fossil fuel resources needs to be coupled with appropriate technologies to mitigate their effects on climatically active emissions," he said.

"There are potentially major economic implications to these findings, since a proportion of the trillions of barrels of oil, currently regarded as unworkable, could in theory be converted into methane, or natural gas.

"In north east England, similar processes may occur in abandoned coal mines, opening the door to a possible means for recovery of the region's extensive abandoned energy resources as clean-burning methane."

By Anthony McLean
Source: News Post Leader