Quadrise to collaborate with Bitumina on 'MSAR' projects

The AIM-traded firm said the Bitumina Group, led by Dr Bernd Schmidt, was founded nearly 100 years ago and was now a “world leader” in producing, trading and supplying a wide range of bitumen products for use in road construction.

It said the Bitumina Group also had a business in Denmark that manufactured and sold colloidal mills and plants for bituminous products and road emulsion production, similar to the unit used for ‘MSAR’ manufacture.

Bitumina UK was under incorporation for the purposes of implementing Bitumina's intended vertical integration strategy in the global bitumen sector, from refinery production through to road and other applications, including the development of the ‘MSAR’ business with Quadrise under the memorandum.

The non-binding MoU defined the structure through which Quadrise and Bitumina would work together, on an exclusive basis, to seek to progress selected ‘MSAR’ project opportunities in the Commonwealth of Independent States - including Russia - as well as Poland, Romania, and Vietnam, to commercial agreements for the production and supply of ‘MSAR’ fuel.

During an initial scoping phase, Quadrise said it would perform laboratory pilot tests to establish emulsification parameters and formulations for selected ‘MSAR’ projects.

The parties would make use of existing Bitumina terminal assets and, in parallel, Quadrise would fully test the applicability of Bitumina's technology and intellectual property - as well as that of affiliated companies and partners - at the Quadrise research facility for applicability to future ‘MSAR’ fuel projects.

Under the MoU, the parties would also prepare detailed techno-economic studies for ‘MSAR’ projects involving selected counterparties, to establish the economics of ‘MSAR’ production and supply to potential ‘MSAR’ users.

Subsequent commercial agreements would be structured so that Quadrise and Bitumina would share profits of any project delivered on the basis of the intellectual property, resources and financial inputs of each party utilising shared assets and infrastructure, the Quadrise board added.

The term of the MoU would be 24 months, after which time it would expire unless mutually extended by the parties or superseded by another agreement.

“We are delighted to sign this memorandum of understanding with Bitumina to progress commercial opportunities, initially in Eastern Europe,” said Quadrise Fuels executive chairman Mike Kirk.

“With an initial focus on the Bitumina terminal assets, we look forward to seeking to realise the commercial benefits from the complementary nature of our businesses.”

Utilising Bitumina's existing assets and in-depth market knowledge, Kirk said Quadrise hoped to be able to progress to commercial terms with third parties “at the earliest opportunity”, and to deliver value to shareholders of both Quadrise Fuels and Bitumina through the use of ‘MSAR’ technology to supply large scale projects in the power and marine sectors.

Dr Bernd Schmidt, chairman and managing director of Bitumina, added that his company saw “extensive potential” in deploying Quadrise's ‘MSAR’ technology to add value to its terminal assets and technology.

“We look forward to working with Quadrise to advance projects where ‘MSAR’ has clear economic and environmental advantages over existing fuel sources and we believe that in combination with our assets and market knowledge, a solid commercialisation for production and distribution of competitive ‘MSAR’ products on a global scale can be achieved,” Dr Schmidt explained.

“We shall make all our resources and knowledge available to Quadrise to allow them to commercialise their excellent ‘MSAR’ product to clients, initially in Eastern Europe utilising our, and our partners, production capacities and export infrastructure to global markets, and we are certain that ‘MSAR’ will be a highly viable fuel option for power and marine applications among others, especially post-IMO 2020.”