Tuesday, 14th of August 2007 at 09:49:44 PMI had breakfast this morning with Stuart Page, CEO of Houston-based startup, GloriOil. I first noticed GloriOil after they announced an infusion of capital from their investors (see blog post from last week). Turns out that Stuart and I have some mutual friends so we met up today to chat.
GloriOil is very interesting to me in that they represent a fusion of multiple industry segments that are well represented in Houston: energy and biotechnology. For those of you who have not checked out their site, this company is commercializing a Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) process and technology developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) through a partnership with ONGC.
By using biosurfactant substances developed in GloriOil’s Houston laboratory, the company uses a “huff and puff” technique in which they develop a “down-hole bioreactor,” sort of like a microbrewery put under intense pressure underground, that the company claims to potentially create a 200% increase in oil production of mature fields. Check out the links on their site for SPE papers on the topic.
Very few cities around the world can facilitate such cross pollination of two divergent technologies; yet it happens all the time in Houston. Another company that demonstrates the potential Houston has for such multiple discipline development is Oxane Materials, maker of OxProp which is a more effective proppant that uses nanotechnology in frac jobs.
I see tremendous opportunities for companies like these here in Houston and hope we can continue to foster their development.
