Fluids produced from hydrocarbon fields are composed of a mixture of oil, gas and water, often with corrosive components, sometimes laden with solid particles, and are a potential source of many flow instabilities. Frequently, they are now directly exported long distances, in multiphase conditions, towards an existing processing facility or a new processing centre created to serve simultaneously several new fields. This production scheme, which is especially applied offshore, in mature basins such as in the North Sea or in the Gulf of Mexico where infrastructure exists over large areas, can also improve the economics of small or deepwater fields.

Hydrocarbons and their derivatives (oxygenated and chlorinated, in particular), both natural and xenobiotic, represent a very large class of compounds whose conversions and degradation by microorganisms cover an extremely rich field, whose concepts are detailed in this book.