Industrial Nanotech, Inc. (Pink Sheets:INTK), an emerging global leader in nanotechnology, announced today that Petrobras, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, has requested that the Company's CEO/CTO, Mr. Stuart Burchill, travel to Petrobras' headquarters in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for meetings with engineers and managers who oversee refineries, offshore drilling facilities, transportation equipment, including ships and barges, and deep sea drilling operations to review potential uses of the Company's patented Nansulate® protective coatings in these areas. The recommendation for this meeting was made by the engineers and managers at Petrobras with whom Mr. Burchill has been working for several years on their upcoming land based pipeline projects. Last fall, they spent ten days with Mr. Burchill and members of Industrial Nanotech's scientific team at one of the Company's research and development facilities in New Jersey and are in the final stages of developing the application protocols for those pipeline projects.
“Based on the performance qualities of our products as observed during the time together in the laboratory, the members of the pipeline project division distributed their observations to other departments throughout Petrobras and generated significant interest and this subsequent request for a meeting with me,” stated Mr. Burchill, CEO/CTO of Industrial Nanotech. “My previous visits to Petrobras headquarters and my tour of various Petrobras operations throughout Brazil with their engineers were very productive and I look forward to a rewarding next trip. I plan to travel to Rio de Janeiro for these meetings in Q2 of 2009.”
Petrobras has stated that they will also be introducing Mr. Burchill to several potential manufacturing partners in Brazil. Petrobras has expressed their preference for having the products manufactured in Brazil to save shipping costs. “The content of several of our coatings is slightly over 30% water when shipped,” states Mr. Burchill. “Shipping only our resins and other raw materials to Brazil and adding the water there provides Petrobras with a significant savings due to reduced shipping costs and they are quite eager for us to pursue this manufacturing model and will assist us in doing so. We are still waiting for a specific start date for these projects to begin in 2009, but we have been told specifically that our projects with Petrobras are not the subject of any cutbacks in expenditures due to the current economic conditions or the current price of oil.”
Petrobras, short for Petroleo Brasileiro S.A., is a government-owned Brazilian oil company and one of the world's largest oil companies. The company controls oil and power industries assets and related business activities in 16 nations throughout Africa, North America, South America and Asia. According to Petrobras President Sergio Gabrielli, their recent major offshore oil discovery, including the Tupi field, would give Brazil the world's eighth-largest oil and gas reserves.