Petroleum degradation by aerobic microbiota from the Pampo Sul Oil Field, Campos Basin, Brazil

Aerobic degradation of a crude oil (sample P1), collected from a deep water reservoir from the Pampo Sul Field (Campos Basin, RJ) at 82 °C and 2405–2588 m, by indigenous bacteria in the oil and formation water was monitored for 60 days. Degradation parameters, measured using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) of the crude oil degraded in the laboratory for periods of 0, 30, 50 and 60 days, were compared with those of a naturally biodegraded oil (sample P2). The analyses revealed that the n-alkanes were totally depleted by the 60th day when the crude oil (P1, degradation level 2) was transformed into petroleum of biodegradation level 6 (P2).