Yes an engineer but lets call it a TECH Engineer. Compressed air technology is its main business, develops industrial air compressors and Gas seals and whats more it provides them for the OIL and GAS industry.
Very close to commercialisation now with its compressors and seals and todays deal ( see below ) should bring that very close.

Charges upfront payments, continuing royalties and development contracts so revenues are not lumpy.

It as a market cap circa off the top of my head 20 million(hope my calculator is now working) and as circa of 5 million cash on the books, very nice.

Some very big names as customers.

Heres todays announcement...........

Corac Group Plc
26 May 2004


For Immediate Release 26 May 2004


Corac Group plc ('Corac')

Joint Industry Programme for Downhole Gas Compression

Corac, the intellectual property and licensing company specialising in
compressor technology, is pleased to announce the signature today of a Joint
Industry Programme ('JIP') for the development of its unique, patented downhole
gas compression technology.

Following the recent successful completion of a Shell funded feasibility study
which evaluated both the technical and economic viability of the technology,
considerable industry interest has been generated, culminating in the addition
of a further four major international oil and gas operators to the project.

The participants of the JIP comprise ConocoPhillips, ENI, Husky Energy,
Repsol-YPF as well as Shell, all of whom have gas assets worldwide which they
believe could benefit from this game changing technology. As well as covering
the development costs for the next phase, the participants will also make
substantial resource available to ensure the final product specification meets
the requirements of the industry.

Corac's downhole gas compression concept involves the coupling together of a
number of axial compressor modules in a single compression train for
installation in the well bore in close proximity to a gas reservoir. In this
location, a modest uplift in pressure results in a very significant increase in
gas production compared with conventional methods using surface compression,
thereby accelerating gas production and cash flow from a producing asset.
Potential production rate enhancement of up to 40% has been demonstrated through
the application of downhole gas compression during a number of gas field case
studies carried out over recent months.

Placing the compressor downhole could also have the effect of being able to
lower the reservoir abandonment pressure which in turn would materially increase
the ultimate recovery from a gas field, thereby further enhancing the economic
benefit from the installation of this novel application of existing technology.

Phase 1 of the JIP is scheduled for completion by the end of 2004, with further
engineering and development work leading to the manufacture and testing of a
prototype downhole in a producing gas well within the following two years.

Commenting on the JIP, Professor Gerry Musgrave, Chairman, said:

'The support from such eminent oil and gas companies vindicates Corac's
development to date of the downhole gas compression project and gives the Group
another product line to bring to the market using its core technologies. It is
the start of a major business development opportunity which is expected to have
significant international ramifications throughout the upstream natural gas
industry.'ENDS.

Although loss making at the moment it shouldnt be very long before this one turns the corner.

Outlook

The Company has a loyal, talented workforce dedicated to the innovation and
exploitation of the technology. Successful trials have demonstrated the
commercial performance in Corac's industrial air compressor and its seals. The
Board is striving to deliver the right manufacturing and sales licences which
will yield the best returns in the long term.

We are confident that a number of deals, which have been subject to recent
intensive negotiation, will be successfully concluded in the near term.

Short to medium term investment, and anyone interested should DYOR and please remember you are responsible for the timing of your buying and selling actions.

cheers GF.

live trials this year, production next year
adequately funded

i am very surprised that CRA do not intend to target end users ...... i read their logic but don't agree ..... CRA will still need provide technical expertise and back up to whomever they sell the kit .... this is an all-important function, the hands-on bit of which can be outsourced, just as our own company does.

that is not quite correct

The business model is that Industrial Air will be sold to compressor manufacturers who then sell to end users.

On DGC, which is, after all, the main event, Corac ARE selling to the end users, ie directly to the oil and gas companies. The services of oil and gas servies companies will be used, but CRA will be selling direct, albeit I would not be surprised if there was some link up with a services company to do the required engineering and completion works.

i'll believe you, though the long spiel above is very muddly (to me at least)


on Industrial Air (which i actually thought was another entirely different company), the comment was, "We are not selling to the end users, we are selling to other parties, because the end users demand local maintenance, they need service wherever they are in the world and this is not something that Corac should ever contemplate doing."


with regard to DGC, "We are getting several service companies interested", which implied to me that that was how that aspect was to be marketed.


that is why i said a concise synopsis of exactly what was going on would have been much more helpful to dick-shits like myself! ...... it still looks and reads as very muddly and imprecise .... i would hate to suggest that it was a good politician's presentation!

The underlying tone suggests they are anxious to keep in particular institutional investors happy in that progress to commercialisation will take some time, which is quite understandable. The down hole testing programme in a producing well appears to be taking longer than was planned and again one can understand why patience is required due to the costs and risks involved. My view is by the end of this year it will become clear whether or not their invention will be a commercial success.

Cynic, this was a shreholders AGM meeting, where a presentation was done by the Chairman, with the aid of slides.
The poster on ADVFN has made copious notes and passed them on for our benefit to give us information. It was not meant to read like a press release!

It seems some folks are never happy and want to be spoon-fed.

Halifax, from last year, live trials were planned in late 2008, this is still very much the case and everything is on track.
Further evidence of this will be when we get the first DGC order.
Also, the strong interest of service companies at this point is, i suggest, no co-incidence as we approach commercial deployment.

This technology, fully proven, must be worth 500m-1bn, imo
(can justify that on the figures given for ONE gas field, the example of which was given at the AGM)
right now, its 60m.
There lies the risk reward.
Not a suitable stock for all investors, I accpet, but for those who like a bit of risk which is mitigated by major partners on board, cash in the bank, modest cash burn, good institutional backing, other irons on the fire, a unique potential block buster of a tech in DGC, solid management, respected directors, then I suggest its worth a go.
imo.

Indeed, the service companies, as i understand it are the ones who will install the machines down the wells.
I believe the next thing to boost the sp will be the RNS for the first sale of units for the field trial, then (similar to drilling for oil) we should get a rise in anticipation of the results. The market currently considers enough risk is already in the share price, as reports of a failure will surely see the sp dive - the sp isn't underpinned by the sum of all the other parts (yet). I was considering waiting until a positive outcome of the first trial was reported before investing heavily, however with only 84m shares in circulation, it is quite illiquid, and buying any reasonable amount will be difficult as everyone will want some, for this reason, i can imagine the sp being completely re-rated should this RNS happen later this year, and i have been happy to, and will continue to stake build...

Taking a tumble?

wow! that's a bit of a clunk ...... wonder why ..... glad i took profits at 73 and had not been tempted back in

Marked down on very small volume?

Chart support around the 50p level, but still a mystery as to why the steep drop in the sp.

can't disagree, but then BLNX tanked as well on what looked like really good figures and forecast

everything at CRA is absolutely on track, so I have been told by CRA

best guess for drop is the red hot penny shares brigade drifting out and possibly MDX getting wacked, causing investors to sell other shares they own for margin calls etc
apparently a few MDX holders also have CRA

I expect this to re-bound strongly, especially as news of the first commercial order for DGC should not be far away.

have picked up a few more at this level, fwiw.

certainly perceive no reason at all for the drop over the last few days ..... of some concern is that sp dropped straight through 200 dam without even thinking of drawing breath

My tuppenceworth... interesting reading, i will be buying tomorrow, been away from comp all day, surprised like everyone else here to see 55p. have always bought on nominee in past and paid for shares with money that wouldn't hurt too much if lost - i'm in massively here, with cfd's which if all goes wrong, i'm going to be struggling for quite a while, and the reason being, as has been pointed out, any rns stating some degree of success with a trial and the shares will be instantly re-rated, you will not be able to buy any decent amount of stock, with only 83m in circulation, everyone will want some, 50p/30p/80p will all be irrelevant, we will talking pounds.
Just before i get accused of having blinkers on, i dont believe the results will hang on just one test - rather i can see several machines being sold to JIP partners, which will at least cause enough excitement to reach a new high....

i cheekily placed an order at 54.75 but did not get any ...... during "hours" CRA was quoted as 54/56

good effort! they dont usually do 3/4quarters, shall phone tomorrow and see if i can get another 20,000 at 55p

bought back in modestly at 55

the swings are getting wilder - two trend lines... orders imminent, i think everyone who got out will want back in soon and we could climb as quickly as we fall, just depends how long we shall have to wait for the announcement...

Reply e-mail from Gerry where i asked if the JIP's were still awaiting proof of temp limitations testing and probed about the recent sell off..




Dear Mr P*****r



I do not know where your understanding comes from, but I can assure you that ENI, Repsol and Conoco Phillips are all more than happy with the temperatures that we can cope with for our DGC, namely a gas steam temperature of 110oC which covers a very large proportion of gas wells.



Of course, we are testing our machine to temperatures way above this to ensure integrity. What is more, we are doing research work with other power electronics to get us up to 400oC. These are for systems for the larger deep wells which will need our artificial lift capabilities in the future.



There may be people getting the jitters, but I can assure you there are no technical or commercial reasons for the loss of share price.



Kind regards

Gerry