Microbial Processes and Natural Gas Accumulations

Microbial processes are responsible for the formation, alteration, and destruction of some natural gas accumulations. Individual microbial gas accumulations may be significant (> 1 Tcf; trillion cubic feet or 28.3 billion cubic meters) and collectively account for more than 20% of the global gas resource-base, dominating in some individual basins. Often cited resource estimates do not effectively account for the contribution of microbial gas to mixed biogenicthermogenic gases nor do these estimates fully account for secondary microbial gas.