Quadrise Places Shares, Plans Commercial Roll-Out of Synthetic Fuel Oil

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday October 5, 2012

Quadrise Fuels International PLC (Quadrise) [LON:QFI] says it has placed shares to raise £3.5 million ($5.7 million) before expenses following speculation earlier in the week, a sum that it says will let it advance its alternative fuel product to a point where it will generate net positive cash flow.

Trading and dealings are expected to commence on October 9, 2012 on the London Stock Exchange's AIM.

The company says it will produce its Multiphase Superfine Atomized Residue (MSAR) Synthetic Fuel Oil (SFO) in commercial volumes starting in the middle of next year and will evaluate its performance in a range of vessels before a full commercial roll-out in 2014.

"The past 12 months have seen a step-change towards the commercialisation phase for Quadrise and our close partners," said Ian Williams, chairman of Quadrise.

"In particular, the two year MSAR Marine fuel development and assessment programme with Mærsk has moved forward to pre-commercial testing and certification.

"In Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco has formally approved the application of our Quadrise MSAR technology in their refineries and the execution of an MOA with M/S Rafid Group has settled the basis and terms for our future presence in the country."

The company said its first "in service" vessel trial with Maersk and AkzoNobel Surface Chemistry AP, which ended in the first quarter of 2012, identified areas for improvement in the fuel oil and the economics of the formulations used.

That led to a six-month extension of the project's pre-commercial phase.

MSAR fuel is a proprietary water in hydrocarbon based emulsion fuel that the company says can cost 5 to 50 percent less than traditional fuel oil, bunker oil, or natural gas.

Quadrise says it has several other potential deals in Asia and the Americas in addition to the Saudi Arabian project.