In the fluid (comprising oil and nutrient solution)-microbe-mineral ternary system of oil reservoirs, current microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technology lacks investigation into the interactions between the latter two components and their application potential in petroleum production. This may explain why MEOR has achieved only partial success while failing to meet full expectations. This review systematically synthesizes the existing fragmented research on reservoirs regarding rock minerals as direct/indirect microbial substrates in MEOR applications. Currently, microbe-mineral interactions enhance oil recovery primarily through the following mechanisms: clay swelling inhibition, induced mineral precipitation, silicate dissolution, wettability alteration, microbial acids etching, and hydrocarbon degradation modulation. Integrating contemporary findings on microbe-mineral interactions, three strategically prioritized MEOR implementation pathways demonstrate particular promise: microbially mediated weathering processes in silicate/carbonate reservoirs, microbial-induced mineral precipitation/dissolution cycles, and microbial leaching-assisted permeability enhancement. Finally, a total of 20 microorganisms potentially applicable for mineral-targeted MEOR were proposed. If MEOR technology could be re-examined from the perspective of microbe-mineral interactions and thoroughly investigated, integrating the knowledge on fluid-microbe binary systems in oil reservoir, this potentially transformative technology may achieve breakthroughs.
Keywords: fluid-microbe–mineral ternary system; microbial enhanced oil recovery; microbial leaching; microbial mineralization; microbial weathering; mineral-targeted.