Nabors Indsutries Ltd. is participating in the evolution of geothermal energy through a recent $12 million financing led by Nabors in Sage Geosystems Inc.

“We believe Sage’s novel approach to harnessing geothermal energy has significant potential to be disruptive to energy markets worldwide,” commented Anthony G. Petrello, Nabors’ chairman, CEO and president, in a company release on June 24.

The financing was announced on June 24 alongside another $11 million investment by Nabors in GeoX Energy Inc., an emerging growth geothermal company based in Colorado. Also, earlier this month, Nabors formed a special purpose acquisition company, known as a SPAC, to pursue an initial business combination target in the energy transition space.

Based in Houston, Sage are pioneers in addressing the challenges of geothermal energy with an integrated system approach covering both surface (plant) and subsurface (well) to deliver a higher heat harvesting efficiency at a lower capital cost.

Sage has focused intensely on early commercialization, and as such, is currently prioritizing access to onshore geopressured formations in the Gulf of Mexico region to prove the commercial viability of Sage’s differentiated technologies and its novel approach to the harvesting of geothermal energy.

According to the June 24 release, Nabors agreed to invest $10 million in Sage. Virya LLC will invest the remaining $2 million. Proceeds from the financing will be used to further accelerate the development of Sage's technologies and construction of their first commercial power plant, the release said.

Commenting on the investment, Sage CEO Lev Ring said: “Geothermal energy can be developed into an unlimited source of clean and renewable energy, which is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but also requires a relatively low amount of resource mining for its effective utilization.”

“We believe the combination of Sage and Nabors will propel geothermal energy to the front of the transition to rapidly commercialize clean energy sources, economically and responsibly,” he added.

The teaming up of Sage, Virya and Nabors will allow the partnership to realize significant synergies, according to the release, beginning with Nabors’ wealth of strengths including broad global reach, technology development, deployment expertise, automation and digitalization experience, as well as its leadership in the well construction and drilling industry. Meanwhile, Virya focuses on investments in ventures with high potential impact on eliminating global greenhouse gas emissions or sequestering CO₂.

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