2010-08-31-2010-08-23

Purchased the exclusive rights to Canada for the development of a revolutionary process designed to recover bitumen or heavy oil from tar and oil sands.

Imperial Petroleum Inc., Evansville, Ind., (OTCBB: IPMN) has purchased the exclusive rights to Canada for the development of a revolutionary process designed to recover bitumen or heavy oil from tar and oil sands from Houston-based Proven Engineering & Technologies LLC for an undisclosed price.

In connection with the purchase, Imperial issued 1 million shares of its restricted common stock to Proven, the developer of the process.

Previously, Imperial announced the formation of Arrakis Oil Recovery LLC, in which it owns a 33.3% interest, to develop the same process technology for territories outside of Canada. The oil sands recovery process uses a nonthermal, mechanical and chemical closed-loop system to recover the bitumen.

"Canada is the single largest producer of oil from tar sands in the world and as a result of the high temperatures employed in the recovery process currently in use in Canada, significant environmental issues associated with oil sand production have been created," says Imperial president Jeffrey Wilson. "The purchase of the exclusive rights to what we believe is the most advanced, cost-effective and eco-friendly processing technology currently available will allow us to penetrate this market more quickly as an environmental remediation company and solve these environmental problems."

Wilson adds that the technology provider has already been selected by BP Plc, London, (NYSE: BP) to remediate oil-stained beaches along the Gulf coast.

"We are constructing a 10-ton-per-hour demonstration facility in Houston, Texas, to begin show-casing the oil sand process technology to potential partners in Canada. We have also begun negotiations with larger companies to construct and deploy the equipment in Canada and elsewhere under a sub-license arrangement," Wilson says.