Petrotech Energy Inc. is touting both patents and blockchain in a penny, over-the-counter, stock (PQEFF).
Well, maybe not investing, but here is a hyped-up "sponsored" Ad that looks slightly like an article over at OilPrice.com: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/This-New-Technology-Could-Transform-The-Oil-Industry1.html
Two things that are interesting in the penny stock that's now up to $1.50 level. It has patented tech on oil sands extraction that is a closed loop system that sounds interesting. With the dry sands of Utah it apparently has the ability to extract 99% of the heavy oil and leaves only sand as the byproduct. That is pretty cool because oil sand extraction has historically been a very, very dirty and expansive business. They want to expand their patents to the countries where lots of (dry) oil sands deposits live and make a fortune. Unfortunately, two of the biggest candidates are Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Russia and China -- not exactly the worlds heaven of intellectual property (IP) protection countries.
In fact, the bitcoin IP (ICO) backed by oil reserves by Venezuela in an interesting ploy. We thought the initial coil offering should more aptly be called an IKO, for Initial Kleptocurrency Offering.
A cybercurrency like bitcoin is, however, an interesting way to do business in any world, especially a kleptocratic country. And blockchain is the underlying transaction technology. So the marriage of blockchain to this company has real merit (they call their technology PetroBLOQ). However, bitcoin and blockchain technology are publicly available -- open source -- technologies.
Petrotech says that they can produce oil at $22 per barrel. Maybe even as low as $18. That's impressive for oil sands. Transportation and the extra costs of processing heavy ("dirty" vs "sweet" West Texas type crude) change that dynamic some; but still impressive.
What's somewhat funny is this statement: "It extracts over 99 percent of all hydrocarbons in the sand, generates zero greenhouse gases and doesn’t require high temperatures or pressures."
Generates "zero greenhouse gases"? It has to be transported, refined, transported to the pump and then burned in a vehicle where it produces between 19 and 20 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon, depending on the type of gas/diesel.
Yes, more green than the tar sands of Alberta, but certainly not as green as wind or solar.
Look, as well, at the trillions of barrels of oil in sands around the world. Even if we could extract it all and burn it, does not mean we should burn it.
Check out a sister blog on the scenarios associated with the demise of oil (excluding any discussion about greenhouse gas issues).
