Announcements

Solazyme’s successful IPO proves strong institutional investor demand for algae stocks

Los Angeles, CA — June 22, 2011 — OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to extract oil from algae and an emerging leader in the global algae oil services industry, today announced its intention to up-list its shares to a senior U.S. securities exchange.

“Solazyme’s highly successful recent IPO shows there is strong institutional investor demand for algae stocks,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. “Our move to a national exchange will allow us greater access to capital from institutional investors which will help us meet increasing worldwide demand for our unique algae extraction technology.”

Algae producer Solazyme, Inc. raised more than $200 million in its recent IPO to help fund its own commercialization process.

According to a Reuters story on the public offering, “…Solazyme is looking to commercialize its fuel technology in the 2013 time frame, with a production cost target of $60 to $80 per barrel. To get there, it will have to build a commercial-scale algae plant, which can cost more than $100 million.”

“In our discussions with leading algae producers, it’s become clear that they need our chemical-free and low-energy dewatering and cracking process to meet commercial scale requirements,” said Paul Reep, OriginOil’s Senior VP of Technology. “We occupy a unique position in the fast-growing algae industry and our move to a national exchange will help facilitate our delivery of systems and proprietary technology to key customers.”

OriginOil recently announced an order for a large-scale algae extraction system from MBD Energy, Ltd. (MBD), a leading solutions provider in the field of industrial CO₂ waste management. The order follows recent trials of OriginOil’s equipment focused on optimizing capacity to handle large volumes of algae continuously.

The new system on order is one of the largest next-generation extraction systems of its kind. The equipment is expected to process up to 1100 liters (300 gallons) per minute of algae culture continuously, enough to process the daily harvest at MBD’s upcoming one hectare (2.5 acre) site at Queensland’s Tarong power station.

The company discussed its path to commercialization in a presentation to the National Algae Association, documented in this video.