Sugar Land, TX /PRNewswire/ - Skye Petroleum, Inc. (Pink Sheets: SKPO) is pleased to announce that it has acquired (from a private company) a patent recently issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patented technology provides a method to selectively remove volatile phosphates from hydrocarbon based fracturing fluids used to stimulate certain crude oil and gas wells. The source of volatile phosphates found in fracturing fluids originates from certain additives that are part of the fracturing fluids' formulation. Additionally, the use of the technology has shown secondary benefits including clarifying and removing certain contaminant metals from hydrocarbon fluids.
The geological properties of oil and gas reservoirs determine whether water based fracturing fluids or hydrocarbon based fracturing fluids can be used. Once an oil or gas well has been successfully fractured using hydrocarbon based fracturing fluids, the well is allowed to flow and the fracturing fluid is recovered and collected. The collected flow back can then be treated to remove the additives and contaminants to meet industry specification standards. The recycled, cleaned and clarified hydrocarbon fluid can then be sold and reused as a fracturing fluid, or sold as a marketable hydrocarbon liquid to a refinery for processing. Where recycling is unavailable, the flow back fluids are typically blended with crude oil and shipped to refineries as feedstock. Refineries are reporting that they are experiencing fouling issues directly related to the presence of volatile phosphates within their crude oil feedstock, resulting in higher maintenance costs and a reduction in process throughput efficiency.
Gerald Weber, CEO of Skye Petroleum, stated, "We are excited to be able to provide a solution that can solve this ongoing problem with hydrocarbon based fracturing fluids. We anticipate focusing our commercialization efforts of the technology towards the fracturing fluid recycling industry, and towards the oil refining industry. We plan to enter discussions with a strategic partner or partners as we introduce this technology into different regions."
Skye Petroleum, Inc. is a publicly traded corporation, listed on the "OTC Pink Current Information" tier on the OTC Markets Group Inc. electronic quotation venue, under the trading symbol, SKPO.
SOURCE: Skye Petroleum, Inc.Copyright 2014 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved