By: Tomas Ronolski - AllPennyStocks.com News

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

We often think of bacteria as it pertains to an illness, i.e. a bacterial infection for which a doctor prescribes an antibiotic to make a patient feel better. While this is certainly true, bacteria are everywhere and can wreak havoc on more than just person or animal. Those in the oil and gas industry are very aware of various bacteria, including IRBs (iron-related bacteria), SRBs (sulfate reducing bacteria), SLYME (slime-forming bacteria) and more. These types of bacteria can cripple operations by “gumming up” wells and corroding pipes and are the reason that tests are constantly being run to detect the presence of the destructive microbes. According to the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) estimates, total costs attributed to all types of corrosion are upwards of $200 billion. Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) is estimated to account for as much as 40-50% of all internal corrosion.

One of the issues is that the majority of diagnostic tests still use antiquated methods (typically culturing bacteria to detect their presence or looking at the bacterial marker ATP) that can be imprecise and/or lengthy processes that can take up to a month for results. As a result many operators are forced into prophylactic efforts, using expensive and environmentally unfriendly biocides to protect assets and operations. In today’s competitive energy and production (E&P) landscape, companies are slowly moving away from legacy diagnostic processes to capitalize on leading technologies that deliver results far more quickly.

Going public about two years ago, Vivione Biosciences Inc. (TSX-Venture:VBI) is focused on its RAPID-B as a solution to a number of sectors to rapidly detect bacteria in a matter of minutes. RAPID-B is an integrated platform of hardware, software and reagents that quickly and accurately identify, quantify and qualify bacteria and other pathogens in key food & water safety, clinical, industrial and oil & gas environments. RAPID-B delivers a report of bacterial presence in as little as 15 minutes. Utilizing the same core system, different bacterium can be defined by simply changing the reagent.

Last week, Vivione said that it entered into a preferred vendor relationship with world-renowned engineering and consulting firm Ely and Associates, a firm that advised on more than 50,000 hydraulic fracturing stages last year alone. With the new partnership, RAPID-B can see a rapid expansion through exposure to Ely’s more than 600 domestic and international E&P companies.

That news was followed today by Vivione saying that the successful field deployment of RAPID-B with Greene's Energy Group, LLC, a provider of integrated testing, rentals and specialty services for drilling, production, pipeline, and construction & process operations. Greene’s used the RAPID-B system to detect and enumerate bacteria in oil field flow-back water samples for a large E&P client before and after anti-microbial treatments were administered. Within 20 minutes of testing, RAPID-B provided Greene's with relevant data on the impact their antimicrobial treatments had on reducing the viable bacteria in the water, allowing Greene’s to optimize the treatment and, ultimately, save the client time and money.

“Vivione's technology has allowed Greene's Water Treatment Services division to determine real time bacterial counts when it is needed most. The data has allowed us to improve and fine tune our water treatment efficiencies while onsite that would not have been possible with previous technologies in the given time frame," said Greene’s Brandon Faulk in a statement today.

"There are absolutely no competing products in the oil & gas space that can provide this level of rapid information to the producer/service provider," according to Kevin Kuykendall, Vivione's CEO.

Shares of VBI, which typically trade by appointment, have leapt ahead by 43% in Wednesday trading, albeit on only 5,300 in volume.

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