Soil sampling and extraction. The soil samples used
were collected from an oil-contaminated area of the
Burqan-well in Kuwait. The microorganisms were isolated
by mixing 1 g of contaminated soil with 10 ml
sterile ASM medium for 2 h. The solid particles were
allowed to sediment for 30 min and aliquots of the
supernatant were used as inoculum. Dilutions of the
inoculum were prepared with ASM medium.