Ecosphere Technologies Inc., a water engineering, technology licensing and U.S. manufacturing company, announced that its majority-owned subsidiary, Ecosphere Energy Services LLC, has regained the exclusive U.S. license to Ecosphere's patented Ozonix technology for the treatment and recycling of water used during oil and gas exploration and production.
For the past two years, the U.S. onshore oil and gas license has been held exclusively by Hydrozonix LLC, who will continue on as a non-exclusive customer and contract service provider of Ecosphere's technology. The previous licensing arrangement required Hydrozonix to purchase a minimum of two Ozonix EF80 mobile water treatment units per quarter in order to maintain exclusive rights to Ecosphere's water treatment technology.
Per an agreement dated Feb. 6, 2013, Hydrozonix agreed to relinquish its exclusivity to the U.S. market if they failed to meet the financial terms of the agreement by April 15, 2013. The terms of that agreement were not met by the agreed upon date. As a result, Ecosphere Energy Services regained the exclusive U.S. onshore oil and gas license for Ozonix. In addition, Ecosphere Energy Services holds the global rights to all energy applications for Ecosphere's patented Ozonix technology.
Robert Cathey, CEO of Ecosphere Energy Services stated, "We are now aggressively moving forward to provide our patented Ozonix products and services to meet the tremendous demand in the U.S. hydraulic fracturing industry. For the past two years we have been limited to only servicing our two initial energy exploration customers that are still using our Ozonix services today. As with any new technology that is introduced to a new industry, there is a learning curve to overcome in order to gain critical mass and acceptance. Our Ozonix technology has now been used on over 700 wells to replace chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing operations. No other water services company in this industry can make that claim."
Cathey continued, "We have a keen understanding of how to help our energy customers preserve vital water resources more cost effectively than they have in the past. Hydrozonix has been a great customer and has been instrumental in helping our Ozonix technology gain market acceptance. We value our relationship with Hydrozonix and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future on a non-exclusive basis."
Source: Ecosphere Technologies
