Company News and Updates

January 2012: Editorial - North Slope Borough Oil Spill Update, by CEO David Prior.     (PDF)

• July, 2011: EST wins Ocean Environmental Protection Award in London.
  
  
  
  On July 7, EST was announced the winner of the 2011 Sustainable Shipping Awards Ocean Environmental Protection Award in London, England. Award winners were decided by a group of internationally respected industry figures that included Mike Penning, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Peter Hinchliffe, Secretary General, International Chamber of Shipping, Charlie Brown from IKEA, Dr Simon Walmsley from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Jacob Sterling, Head of Climate and Environment at Maersk Line, and Natalie Bruckner-Menchelli, Senior Editor of SustainableShipping.com.
• EST awarded NSERC Engage Grant
  
  In early July, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) awarded a substantial grant for research on hydrodynamic optimization of EST oil skimmer technology c/o Dr. Wei Qiu, head of the Department of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
• May, 2011: EST unveils plans for Arctic oil skimmer ship
  
  
  
  In late May, EST issued a press release on its new 70m Arctic oil skimmer ship designed to handle ice conditions typical of China's Bohai Sea and similar environments, which conventional oil spill equipment cannot cope with. The vessel design was developed by 4th year engineering students at UBC lead by their professor Jon Mikkelsen. The EST Arctic oil skimmer ships will be able to handle oil spills in rough seas and heavy, moving ice, and to also serve as multi-purpose vessels in the offshore oil fields. Only weeks later, in June, serious oil leakages occurred at drill rigs in the Bohai Sea.
• March, 2011: EST proposal selected for Canadian innovation program
  
  
  
  In March 2011, EST was one of 19 pre-qualified innovation proposals selected for the first round of the new $40 million Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP). Public Works and Government Services Canada has paired EST with the Canadian Coast Guard in PEI who will test and evaluate EST's innovative and multi-purpose 12-meter skimmer vessel pictured above.
• August, 2010: RPS prototype vessel live-tested in Alabama
  
  
  
  In June 2010, CEO David Prior visited Louisiana and Alabama where Reinforced Plastic Systems (RPS), an international firm manufacturing advanced composites, manufactured a full-size prototype of a market-ready demonstrator oil skimmer vessel based on the original EST-designed system. It was live-tested August 17 in a new 25m test tank in Mobile, AL. A new enhancement on the prototype is a powerful oil pumping unit supplied by Mississippi-based Fast Flow Pumps. In addition, an innovative system for skimming oil off the sea floor has been developed for the SP Tech skimmer. Please stay tuned for imminent developments.
  
• In July 2010, EST licensed a company to build 4 of our 12m skimmers for South America. These will be the first sales of our commercial product.
  
• We have now filed patents worldwide (PCT /CA2008/002288).
• BP is forming a committee to evaluate what went wrong with the Gulf spill response and has requested information on the EST technology. They wish to improve the response ability for the future.
  
• The need for revolutionary equipment is so great that a prize of $1 million USD has just been offered. They want what EST already has. It's a good video. http://iprizecleanoceans.org/Page/Home
  
• In January 2010, meetings were held with CNOOC and SinoChem in Beijing. The Canada China Business Council assisted.
  
• In December 2009, EST performed tank tests in Weihai, China, using petroleum and wave action. Tests were very successful and a video was produced.
  
• In November 2009, EST became a broker for a Canadian boatbuilder manufacturing modern, Canadian fishing vessels in China and selling them in Europe.
  
• In October 2009, rough water sea trials were performed in Halifax, Canada. They proved very successful. A video was produced. The Canadian Coast Guard notified EST that they were now evaluating the EST technology for the Arctic.
  
• In May 2008, EST attended IOSC www.iosc.org. There was no significantly innovative equipment on display.
  
• In 2008, NOFO accepted the EST white paper on ocean oil spill recovery. NOFO was searching for truly innovative technology.
  
  
• In 2007, sea trials in calm water were performed in Halifax, Canada with a senior response officer from the Canadian Coast Guard.
  
• In 2006, tank tests funded by a Norwegian oil company were performed in Halifax, Canada.
  
• In 2005, lab-scale tank tests were performed at Dalhousie University to demonstrate the operation of the EST technology, as conceived by Dr Rafiq Islam, who was the Petroleum Chair at the time.