September 7, 2006 Source: :
http://www.unb.ca/news/view.cgi?id=1084 UNB and Green Imaging Technologies Sign a Deal for Oil and Gas Technology September 7, 2006
UNB Fredericton News Release: D698
Natalie Montgomery, Public Relations Officer (506) 451-6842 The University of New Brunswick and Green Imaging Technologies Inc. (GIT) have signed a technology transfer agreement that will provide GIT with exclusive rights to a new MRI technology developed by researchers at UNB’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Research Centre. The new MRI technology is a capillary pressure test that measures the oil, gas, and water behaviour in reservoir rock cores. The test provides a much faster and more accurate assessment of petroleum reservoir potential, reducing the current processing time from as long as 30 days to fewer than three days. This technology satisfies a pressing demand from the oil and gas industry for new methods of testing rock samples to determine when, where, and how to exploit oil and gas reserves. "The increasing price of oil and a renewed focus on finding and exploiting new petroleum reservoirs has generated significant interest in the technology," said Derrick Green, chief technical officer at GIT. UNB’s Bruce Balcom and Quan Chen developed the MRI capillary pressure test, which is based on more than a decade of basic MRI materials research. It is the first of several commercial spin offs from UNB’s Institute for Materials Visualization and Analysis, of which the MRI Centre is one component. Reversing the brain drain, UNB recruited the Greens as part of commercializing the new technology. A dynamic husband and wife team, they are experienced, business savvy engineers who left successful jobs in the United States to create the new company. "The overwhelming response to our product from some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, as well as the support of the local community at all levels, made our decision to move back a no-brainer," said Ms. Green, the company’s chief executive officer Finding a team like the Greens to commercialize technologies coming out of UNB’s research facilities supports the university’s objective to accelerate the transfer of knowledge and technology from the university to industry. "We are delighted to have attracted two highly qualified and experienced New Brunswick natives back to the province to lead this venture," said Greg Kealey, UNB’s vice-president (research). UNB and GIT have also signed a two-year agreement to develop and commercialize other MRI Centre technologies. "The impressive array of alliances developed by Green Imaging Technologies, all in their first year of operations, speaks volumes about the commercial promise of the new technology," said Dr. Balcom. Green Imaging Technologies Inc. was formed in November 2005 by UNB graduates Jill Green and Derrick Green. GIT specializes in MRI technology. The company designs, develops, tests, markets, and distributes MRI-based products and services to oil and gas companies. The GIT website is located at www.greenimaging.com. UNB’s MRI Centre is one of the world’s leading MRI research laboratories devoted to the development and application of MRI methods to study materials. UNB is the leading research organization in the province, making a significant difference in the lives of New Brunswickers through pure and applied research. UNB’s Office of Research Services patents and license inventions, finds and develops collaborations between companies and university researchers, and assists in the creation of spin-off ventures. The MRI-GIT technology is part of an Idea to Innovation grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, with patent funding support from Business New Brunswick. An instrument prototype has been developed and tested with support from Petroleum Research Atlantic Canada, a regional organization that fosters petroleum-related research and development in Atlantic Canada, and Bruker Canada, an MRI equipment vendor. The National Research Council, through the Industrial Research Assistance Program, has also supported development of the prototype instrument. For more information, contact Jill Green at 476-3545, Bruce Balcom at 458-7938, or David Foord at 453-4900. - 30 -
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