Press Release 21 January 2000

Cleansorb Wins SMART Award to Evaluate the Feasibility of New Enzyme-Based Process for the oil industry.

For Immediate Release:

Cleansorb is pleased to announce that it has won an award in the highly competitive SMART Competition run by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The award will assist Cleansorb in evaluating the feasibility of a new enzyme-based process with application in oil production.

The feasibility study will run for approximately twelve months from January 2000. The project aims to show that enzymes can be used to achieve the controlled precipitation and deposition of scale inhibitors in formations at temperatures less than about 100° C (212° F).

Effective methods to achieve the controlled precipitation of scale inhibitors at low temperatures should offer operational and environmental benefits to operators in several important oil producing regions, worldwide.

Notes to Editors:

1. SMART was introduced in 1988 to encourage innovation. Awards are made by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on a competitive basis to individuals and independent small and medium companies (SMEs).

2. Cleansorb Limited, based in Guildford, Surrey, UK, is a privately owned biotechnology company which specialises in developing catalyst-based (especially enzyme-based) processes which assist oil and gas production. Contact: Ian McKay, Tel. ++ 44 (0)1483 295090.

3. Cleansorb's lead product is Arcasolve, a patented and highly effective method of acidising oil and gas wells in which acid is generated in-situ using enzyme catalysts. In-situ generation ensures excellent zonal coverage. The process has particular application in the removal of drilling fluid damage, deep matrix acidising and the stimulation of fracture networks as well as other acidizing applications.

© Cleansorb Limited 2006.  All rights reserved.