DNA

Good diagnostic testing is often painstaking, time-consuming, and costly, but recent studies suggest that a lack of knowledge can be even costlier.

Tiny soil samples may contain as many as 300,000 species of microbial life, but a Netherlands-based startup has figured out that between 50 and 200 of them can tell an operator if a drilling location will hold oil and gas reserves.

For the past 2 decades, the use of DNA sequencing technology has largely been relegated to the domains of criminal forensics and the healthcare industry. One company is betting that the shale industry soon will join that list.

DuPont is ramping up the commercial-scale implementation of its microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) method after nearly a decade of development and testing of what it says is a low-risk way to improve production from mature fields.