Badger Explorer ASA - Signs 3-year development agreement with ExxonMobil
Badger Explorer ASA has signed a 3-year development agreement with ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, whereby the oil company will sponsor the Badger Explorer Demonstrator Program for the period 2012-2014. The objective of the Demonstrator program is to move Badger technology from the prototype stage to a viable and robust commercial product, the Badger 125 (BE125).
"We consider the fact that the world's largest oil company becomes our sponsor to be very significant. Badger Explorer has passed a number of important technological milestones in 2011 and come several steps closer to our first commercial service. ExxonMobil’s continuing participation is an important factor in the ongoing development process, "says David Blacklaw, CEO of Badger Explorer ASA.
The Development Agreement represents the formal start of the Badger Demonstrator program. This will initially establish a design basis for the next generation tool, the BE 125, where lessons learned from prototype project will be implemented. The project management, construction and testing of the BE 125 will be derived from this design. A significant part of the Demonstrator program will be to develop and configure commercial applications, such as sensors and instrumentation that can identify hydrocarbons, and be used for long-term reservoir monitoring and management.
In addition to financial contribution to the program, ExxonMobil shall provide support in the form of technical, geological and administrative expertise, and also assist in finding suitable onshore or offshore locations for field pilots and to provide operational assistance to the occasion.
According to the Agreement, Badger Explorer ASA will be awarded funds upon reaching development milestones. ExxonMobil's financial contribution will amount to NOK 9 million in total; the first installment being made upon entering into the agreement.
Other contributors to the Demonstrator Program will include Innovation Norway (whose NOK 20 million award was announced in the press release of 23 November 2011) and other oil companies. Negotiations with other oil companies are ongoing and the company aims to have four to five program sponsors in total.
In addition to the implementation of the Demonstrator program during the period 2012-2014, Badger Explorer aims to deliver the first field pilots on a commercial basis. These deliveries are the subject of a separate project, in which the Research Council of Norway has awarded support totaling NOK 8 million (see announcement on 16 November 2011). The company is currently negotiating the delivery of the first field pilot.
The Agreement with ExxonMobil, in conjunction with the awards by both Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway and other anticipated agreements, provides for maintenance of the company’s high level of activity over the next three years.
Stavanger, 12 December 2011
For further information, please contact:
David W. Blacklaw, CEO, cell phone +47 406 44 010, office +47 52 97 45 50
Gunnar Dolven, CFO, cell phone +47 908 53 168, office +47 52 97 45 40
Tags: