Kimberley to clean up

PERTH-based Kimberley Oil is going ahead with the development and commercialisation of new oil spill clean-up technology.

Kimberley Oil claims the Kalocsai Oil Solidification (KOS) process can convert oil into a buoyant non-toxic solid in less than a minute and can then be harvested. There is also the possibility that oil and the re-agent may be recovered through recycling.

It is estimated that approximately one million tonnes of oil spill into the environment every year. The existing alternative clean-up methods, detergents, ignition and mechanical devices, are both inefficient and have negative environmental effects.

“Currently the most effective method for dealing with oil spills is probably prayer,” Kimberley Oil exploration director Ross Reiser said.

In August this year, Kimberley Oil announced the acquisition of the new oil spill clean-up technology in a scrip deal with Malta-based Skylab International Ltd.

The deal involves an initial payment of 500,000 shares, approximately a 0.5 per cent interest in Kimberley Oil. A subsequent two million shares is payable after successful technical proof of process. Since June this year the share price has trebled from around seven cents to reach a high of 21 cents a share. It traded on Tuesday at 18.5¢.

The KOS process also has the potential to prevent major spills. The technology could be utilised to solidify oil at the site of a split in a tanker.

“Just as people have fire extinguishers, we might have leak extinguishers it the future.”

Kimberley Oil is also seeking a partner to drill the Yulleroo Prospect an oil and gas trap 70 km east of Broome.

“The structure has the potential to hold several trillion cubic feet of gas.”