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.

Along with most of the market it seems.

shakey shakey

interesting update lifted from a d v f n, posted by The Prophet yesterday:



OK, here is an up to date up-date on Corac.As ever, dyor , but all posted in good faith.

First up, the ENI trial. Everything is on track as per previous releases, ie fourth quarter this year. The schedule, order of work and procedures are all laid down and agreed. But please dont think in a project of this complexity and magnitude that there is going to be a release that says at 4.31pm on Wednesday the whatever saying that dgc is going to be lowered down-hole. It dont work like that! Although I am sure we will have news releases as we progress.
What we can say is that everything is on time and all the partners involved are confident of a good outcome.

The ENI trial will be used on wells that are waning, and the units will have to work hard to give the extra lift. The expectation is for an extra 20% lift. The normal range is for 30%-50%, but with these slower flowing wells, everyone involved would be absolutely delighted with 20%, and CRA think on the qt they may squeeze a bit more out than that. Out of interest,btw, modelling has shown that whilst 30%-50% is the normal range, in some cases it could be higher than 100%.

The situation with ENI is that they have extensive interests in the Po Valley, where there is potential for several hundred units to be used. Success in this first trial is expected to lead to orders for the Po valley.

The benefit to ENI in these waning wells is not just the 20% extra gas. The situation is that these sort of wells are near the end of their life and the alternative to DGC is to decommission them and shut them down. So it is the extra few years of gas that DGC will give plus delaying decommissioning that is the benefit.

Houston trip, the Proff has just spent a very fruitful time in Houston, speaking to a number of companies on the benefits of DGC. We are talking about some of the largest companies on the planet. There is a reluctance to give names, but if we look at the members of the ITF ( the body that organises JIP schemes) you can see the sort of companies that are likely to be in the frame, like BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Woodside etc etc.

http://www.oil-itf.com/index/portfolio

As ever when dealing with multi-nationals, things move at a modest pace, but moving they are and in the right direction, with Baker Hughes helping the process along. I think it is a decent bet that a major will get signed up in the not too distant future. Interesting as well that CRA also talking to smaller companies, who are happy to move things along at a brisk pace.
So, interest in DGC is strong and growing, with even talk of one company wanting to DGC the whole field straight away! (although I assume they will want the ENI test results first)

Talking of Baker Hughesit is often the case when a small company signs with a major, the best bit is the signing, as things can tend to go down-hill (nearly said down-hole, which would be good!) from that point on. But all the feed-back coming from Corac on this deal is very positive and the relationship is clearly working very well. Imo, this is vital to CRAs future plans , in that they need a global partner that is known and trusted by DGCs potential customers and who has the ability to roll out and service dgc on a global basis. Baker Hughes can do that, no problems, and that looks where they are heading. In a few months time the Baker Hughes deal is a year end, at which point the deal moves into a full on marketing and sales deal. There would seem to be very little chance of this not happening. The frame-work for the deal was agreed last year, but there will still be a few details to sort out and agree on. The deal will include minimum numbers of units over a given time-frame etc etc.


Cash, it was re-iterated that CRA are fine for cash right through this year and next year. That is without any further income streams that are not already known, ie more orders/trials for DGC, further Industrial Air orders. Cash burn should be lower this year, as Corac will receive monies from Baker Hughes (part of the deal) and monies from ENI for the unit. Some of those monies have already been received in this half year.
Regarding if/when CRA get larger orders for DGC, they can finance that either by up-front deposits from the companies involved or by bank loans based on the orders, they dont envisage any problems on that front.

The time-delay with the ENI trial has been unfortunate, but the time has been used to good effect to re-design certain elements of the unit and reduces risk by these design changes, all of which have been fully tested at Spadeam. The confidence within the team at Corac is very high and the level of activity regarding DGC is strong and growing. The Proff will talk at the AGM on these things, so well worth any interested investors attending if they can.

Industrial Air. The situation with Fu Sheng in China is that orders have fallen of a cliff as companies have cut back on cap-ex and they are re-furbishing existing equipment rather than buy new. But there are signs of a pick up in economic activity and there is an expectation for orders on the second half of the year. The case for CRAs IA machines is very strong, paying for themselves in a year on reduced energy costs, that is not counting reduced maintenance costs compared to incumbent machines. But Corac should also now benefit from the fact that they have got machines out in the market place with both Fu Sheng and LMF, and that these machines now have had a reasonable length of running time behind them. These two compaies have been the trailblazers, prepared to put new technology into the market place. That now makes it much easier for Corac to speak to other companies and Corac are now active in widening the customer base, so I would expect good news on the IA front in the second half of this year.


There we have it. I look forward to hearing the Proff at the AGM.

The situation here is we have world-beating tech with major partners on-board, and others looking to join the party as well. DGC makes massive economic sense for the companies involved, and its attractions are only likely to improve. Clearly there are still risks with DGC, but the risk/reward is compelling and the level of testing , partners on board, problems overcome to date all give me confidence of a good outcome.
As ever, please dyor!

moving up nicely today, with imminent news-flow, looking good.

Its only me and you here NL...! (did you goto the Swindon presentation bac?)

My entry on some thread at the start of the year for 2009 best performer, a three/four bagger so far but its only just getting going!
Bought more earlier this week as it looked like break out imminent, could have been perfect timing, but talk of another trial, possible further JIP announcement and of course our impending first trial and i find it incredible there isnt more of a following on here, i think its a lack of homework by many here, but if only peeps realised how few shares are in circulation and how big CRA's product could become (saleswise) potential multi-bagger from here, things look likely to get exciting from here onwards...

Its a green light on all indicators!

nice looking charts, Big Ted.

didn't go to Swindon, but there were some reports of that and the agm on a d v f n

Yes, im on there, i went to Swindon, but couldn't make AGM, currently living in Ukraine and couldn't time flights to co-incide with that day, some good purchasing going on at mo, it would be amazing to have an RNS with a fresh trial order, more news of one for above ground, or indeed another JIP signed up, would kind of relieve the tension growing on the Italian trial... the potential here is truly explosive, and hopefully that should see us ok in the face of the impending melt down on the stock markets...

5-10 if DGC works, easy.

good post from a d v f n from Nick2412

Exciting times and thanks for the posts from banshee and the prophet today.

Worth bullet pointing the highlights from these posts and AGM reports of what we can anticipate prior to trial. Even if half the potential news comes then surely the Company has to beat last years highs of 94p pre-trial?

Probably worth adding the word 'potential' in the statements though as until they are signed that is what they are however close and realistic they might be.

Direct highlights from the posts of what could be in the offing pre-trial:-

1) Distressed seller (My note: share price action this afternoon suggests they might be out now. Small purchases moving the stock up quickly.)

2) Another DGC Sale.

3) A deal for DGC use above ground within gas fields,

4) Another O&G Major joining the JIP

5) Further live trial.

5) Plus one or two other tidbits like signing off of the trial DGC and a 1 million payment from ENI for same, news from BH etc. (My note on BH: JV with Baker Hughes on track to progressing to a full-scale sales and marketing agreement for DGC.)

6) Real signs of life in Industrial Air at last apparently, by which I imagine they mean new orders fairly soon too

7) New contracts at the detailed draughting/with lawyers stage - not IA related, more complex.

8) At least two new trials booked this year, one of which should be in the US (as well a new JIP member), though of course I imagine installation won't take place till 2010.

9) Full DGC system witnessed and signed off by ENI(should be reasonably near-term, ie within a couple of months)

10) In addition, a company they have been speaking to in the last two years now says they want to go with a live trial, I assume this is Woodside but The Prof would not confirm or deny on that one!

11) Regarding using DGC above ground to compress gas in pipelines, 'things are moving quite quickly on that front'

12) Another paper published, towards the end of the year, co-authored with BP
The ENI trial is 100% on track and 'things are moving apace'

moving up again, just one of the above items of news should be enough to tip this onto the 70p-90p trading tange, imo.

Strong start, but low volume.
2517

What the hell happened to this one? Something to do with the placing of new shares at 35p I suppose.
"The Company is pleased to announce that it has placed 14,131,820 Ordinary Shares with M&G Recovery Fund ('M&G') at a price of 35 pence per share ('the Placing Shares') to raise approximately 4.7 million (net of expenses). These additional funds will strengthen the balance sheet and enable the business to grow and realise its potential more quickly while mitigating the risks of commercialising its technology.
Application has been made to admit the Placing Shares to trading on AIM and Admission is expected to occur on 1 October 2009. "

looking at the recent holdings might be a buy for now... you think Harry?

As funds go I believe the M & G Recovery Fund has a decent reputation, so whilst there is weakness atm it may bode well for the future. Balerboy, I wouldn't argue with your view, this may be a good opportunity. 39p atow.
2517

Yes, was going to buy at 38p but found I had no spare cash!
Hoping for another bounce back to the 200 DMA at which time I should have scraped some funds together.

Bid / offer spread 39 - 43p. Not exactly encouraging punters!

Corac announces a trading update following a review and discussions with Eni SpA ("Eni"). Despite achieving a number of key milestones in the year, necessary development and design changes specific to this project have arisen and the Company is now putting a revised timetable and plan in place for the field trial to go live in H2 2010, as opposed to Q4 2009 as previously reported.

Corac is pleased to announce that the Company is in discussions regarding contract terms with two other potential field trial partners to use the Downhole Gas Compression ("DGC") technology, one in the USA and the other in the Middle East. Both trials could provide a significant opportunity and greater breadth of application of Corac technology to the gas market.

Phil Cartmell, Chief Executive said:
"I am obviously disappointed that Corac is unable to start field trials in 2009 as planned, but pleased that the Company is now putting in place a revised plan to deliver to Eni. I am delighted that we are in negotiations regarding contract terms on two more projects relating to the DGC technology.

The Company is now entering into a new phase to manage and improve delivery of these important projects and will implement the right approach across the business to achieve its goals."

Q4 was already a delay, so latest news shows company in a very bad light indeed ..... glad i only hold a pretty nominal amount (even less nominal now!) .... this is yet another company that makes regular excited noises and then fails dismally to deliver ..... no doubt the apologists will surface here during the day

directors credibility disappearing rapidly what can sharehoders believe?