A company formed to commercialise technology that promised to make remote gas finds more economic to exploit has gone into administration.
Administrators for Gas2 said it had failed to commercialise its “transformational” gas-to-liquid conversion technology despite raising £18million from investors since the Aberdeen-based firm was founded in 2005.
There were no job losses as a result of the administration order, although a spokesman confirmed that five Gas2 employees had been made redundant earlier in March.
In 2013, the firm employed as many as 19 people in Aberdeen as well is its Teeside-based pilot reactor plant.
Gas2 was founded in 2005 by Willie Reid and fellow entrepreneur Mike Fleming, who had remained as managing director of the Bridge of Don-based company.
It initially developed and exclusively licensed technologies first conceived at the city’s Robert Gordon University (RGU) and attracted a number of investors, most notably venture capital firm Lime Rock, which led a £10million growth capital investment in the firm in 2008.
Other investors and shareholders left out of pocket included a number of high net worth individuals, including the founders, and RGU.
A spokeswoman from RGU said: “We are disappointed that the company has gone into administration. The university will continue to work on the technology that the company was bringing to the market.”
The technology, which converted natural gas to more easily transportable liquid, would have made stranded gas fields more economic to produce, as well as reduce flaring by harnessing billions of cubic metres of gas burnt off in the oil extraction process. Its backers also saw its potential for use in the shale and unconventional gas industry.
Iain Fraser and Tom MacLennan, partners with FRP Advisory and joint administrators, said they are now seeking buyers for the intellectual property and assets of the company, and encouraged interested parties to make contact “as soon as possible”.
Mr Fraser said: “Gas2 was focused on perfecting a new technology that has the potential to cause a seismic shift in the GTL market.
“That significant market potential still exists, but unfortunately the company could not fund the next phase of R&D, and there was no alternative other than to place the business in administration.
“We are now offering the intellectual property and pilot plant for sale with immediate effect, and hope that an entrepreneur or business that recognises the potential will acquire these valuable assets and bring this exciting new GTL technology to market.”
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