QSEP QS Energy Inc (PK)

Item 1. Business

The discussion of our business is as of the date of filing this report, unless otherwise indicated.

Overview

QS Energy, Inc. (“QS Energy” or “Company” or “we” or “us” or “our”) develops and seeks to commercialize energy efficiency technologies that assist in meeting increasing global energy demands, improving the economics of oil transport, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Company's intellectual properties include a portfolio of domestic and international patents, a substantial portion of which have been developed in conjunction with and exclusively licensed by us from Temple University of Philadelphia, PA (“Temple”). QS Energy's primary technology is called Applied Oil Technology (AOT), a commercial-grade crude oil pipeline transportation flow-assurance product. Engineered specifically to reduce pipeline pressure loss, increase pipeline flow rate and capacity, and reduce shippers’ reliance on diluents and drag reducing agents to meet pipeline maximum viscosity requirements, AOT is a 100% solid-state system that in lab and other tests has shown to reduce crude oil viscosity by applying a high intensity electrical field to crude oil while in transit. AOT technology has shown to deliver reductions in crude oil viscosity and pipeline pressure loss as demonstrated in independent third-party tests performed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center, and ATS RheoSystems, a division of CANNON™, at full-scale test facilities in the U.S. and China, and under commercial operating conditions on one of North America’s largest high-volume crude oil pipelines. Prior testing on a commercial crude oil condensate pipeline demonstrated high correlation between laboratory analysis and full-scale AOT operations under commercial operating conditions with onsite measurements and data collected by the pipeline operator on its supervisory control and data acquisition (“SCADA”) system. The AOT product is still in development and testing and has transitioned from laboratory testing to initial demonstration and continued testing in advance of our goal of seeking commercial acceptance and adoption by the upstream and midstream pipeline marketplace. We continue to devote the bulk of our efforts to the promotion, design, testing and the commercial manufacturing and test operations of our crude oil pipeline products in the upstream and midstream energy sector. Our efforts in the foregoing regard have been substantially hampered by our lack of capital. We should be able to continue our efforts to commercialize our AOT product during 2023 only if we are able to raise sufficient capital to do so. We can provide no assurances that we will be able to raise the capital we need to continue our efforts in 2023, or that any such capital will be available to us on acceptable terms and conditions.

Our Company was incorporated on February 18, 1998, as a Nevada Corporation under the name Mandalay Capital Corporation. The Company changed its name to Save the World Air, Inc. on February 11, 1999. Effective August 11, 2015, the Company changed its name to QS Energy, Inc. The name change was affected through a short-form merger pursuant to Section 92A.180 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. Additionally, QS Energy Pool, Inc., a California corporation, was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company on July 6, 2015 to serve as a vehicle for the Company to explore, review and consider acquisition opportunities. To date, QS Energy Pool has not entered into any acquisition transaction. However, the Company will still consider entering into potential beneficial acquisitions. The Company is considering dissolving QS Energy Pool to reduce costs associated with operating this subsidiary. The Company’s common stock is quoted under the symbol “QSEP” on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (Pink Sheets).

More information including the Company’s updates, fact sheet, logos and media articles are available at our corporate website, www.qsenergy.com.

Between 2011 and 2012, the Company transitioned from prototype testing of its AOT technology at the U.S. Department of Energy Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center, Midwest, Wyoming (“RMOTC”), to the design and production of full-scale commercial prototype units. The Company worked in a collaborative engineering environment with multiple energy industry companies to refine the AOT Midstream commercial design to comply with the stringent standards and qualification processes as dictated by independent engineering audit groups and North American industry regulatory bodies. In May 2013, the Company’s first commercial prototype unit known as AOT Midstream, was completed.

In 2013, the Company entered into an Equipment Lease/Option to Purchase Agreement (“TransCanada Lease”) with TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. by its agent TC Oil Pipeline Operations, Inc. ("TransCanada") which agreed to lease and test the effectiveness of the Company’s AOT technology and equipment on one of TransCanada’s operating pipelines. As previously reported in our 10-K report filed with the SEC on March 16, 2015, in June 2014, the equipment was accepted by TransCanada and the lease commenced and the first full test of the AOT equipment on the Keystone pipeline was performed in July 2014 by Dr. Rongjia Tao of Temple University, with subsequent testing performed by an independent laboratory, ATS RheoSystems, a division of CANNON™ (“ATS”) in September 2014. Upon review of the July 2014 test results and preliminary report by Dr. Tao, QS Energy and TransCanada mutually agreed that this initial test was flawed due to, among other factors, the short-term nature of the test, the inability to isolate certain independent pipeline operating factors such as fluctuations in upstream pump station pressures, and limitations of the AOT device to produce a sufficient electric field to optimize viscosity reduction. Subsequent testing by ATS in September 2014 demonstrated viscosity reductions of 8% to 23% depending on flow rates and crude oil types in transit. In its summary report, ATS concluded that i) data indicated a decrease in viscosity of crude oil flowing through the TransCanada pipeline due to AOT treatment of the crude oil; and ii) the power supply installed on our equipment would need to be increased to maximize reduction in viscosity and take full advantage of the AOT technology. More testing is required to establish the commercial efficacy of our AOT technology. The TransCanada Lease was terminated by TransCanada, effective October 15, 2014. Upon termination of the TransCanada Lease, all equipment was uninstalled, returned, inspected and configured for re-deployment.

On July 15, 2014, the Company entered into an Equipment Lease/Option to Purchase Agreement (“Kinder Morgan Lease”) with Kinder Morgan Crude & Condensate, LLC (“Kinder Morgan”) under which Kinder Morgan agreed to lease and test the effectiveness of the Company’s AOT technology and equipment on one of Kinder Morgan’s operating crude oil condensate pipelines. Equipment provided under the Lease included a single AOT Midstream pressure vessel with a maximum flow capacity of 5,000 gallons per minute. The equipment was delivered to Kinder Morgan in December 2014 and installed in March 2015. In April 2015, during pre-start testing, low electrical impedance was measured in the unit, indicating an electrical short. A replacement unit was installed in May 2015. The second unit also presented with low impedance when flooded with crude condensate from Kinder Morgan’s pipeline. Subsequent to design modifications, a remanufactured AOT unit was installed and tested at Kinder Morgan’s pipeline facility in August 2015. Initial results were promising, with the unit operating generally as expected. However, voltage dropped as preliminary tests continued, indicating decreased impedance within the AOT pressure vessel. QS Energy personnel and outside consultants performed a series of troubleshooting assessments and determined that, despite modifications made to the AOT, conductive materials present in the crude oil condensate appeared to be the root cause of the decreased impedance. Based on these results, QS Energy and Kinder Morgan personnel mutually agreed to put a hold on final acceptance of equipment under the lease and suspended in-field testing to provide time to re-test crude oil condensate in a laboratory setting, and thoroughly review and test selected AOT component design and fabrication. Subsequent analysis and testing led to changes in electrical insulation, inlet flow improvements and other component modifications. These design changes were implemented and tested by Industrial Screen and Maintenance (ISM), one of QS Energy's supply chain partners in Casper, Wyoming. Tests performed by ISM at its Wyoming facility indicated significant improvements to system impedance and efficiency of electric field generation.

In February 2016, the modified AOT equipment was installed at Kinder Morgan’s facility. Pre-acceptance testing was performed in April 2016, culminating in more than 24 hours of continuous operations. In-field viscosity measurements and pipeline data collected during this test indicated the AOT equipment operated as expected, demonstrating viscosity reductions equivalent to those measured under laboratory conditions. Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (“SCADA”) pipeline operating data collected by Kinder Morgan during this test indicated a pipeline pressure drop reduction consistent with expectations. Results of this test were promising; however, due to the short duration of the test and limited data collection, definitive conclusions regarding the AOT performance and its impact on pipeline operations could not be reached. Based on final analysis of in-field test results, SCADA operating data and subsequent analysis of crude oil condensate samples at Temple University, it became unlikely Kinder Morgan would use the AOT at the original test location or other condensate pipeline. Kinder Morgan expressed interest in AOT operations at one of their heavy crude pipeline locations subject to results of other AOT demonstration projects and provided the Company with additional crude oil samples which have been tested at Temple University for future test correlation and operational planning purposes. The Kinder Morgan Lease is currently in suspension and there are no current plans to resume the lease or reinstall an AOT device at a Kinder Morgan facility.

Southern Research Institute (SRI) was engaged by QS Energy in 2015 to investigate the root cause of the crude oil condensate impedance issue by replicating conditions experienced in the field utilizing a laboratory-scaled version of the AOT and crude oil condensate samples provided by Kinder Morgan. In addition, QS Energy retained an industry expert petroleum pipeline engineer to review the AOT design and suggest design modifications to resolve the crude oil condensate impedance issue. This engineer has studied design details, staff reports and forensic photographs of each relevant AOT installation and test. Based on these investigations, specific modifications were proposed to resolve the impedance issue, and improve the overall efficiency of the AOT device, resulting in a new value-engineered design of certain AOT internal components.

During the third quarter of 2016, the Company developed an onsite testing program to demonstrate AOT viscosity reduction at prospective customer sites. This program utilized a laboratory-scale AOT device designed and developed by the Company and tested at the Southern Research Institute. Under this program, Company engineers set up a temporary lab at the customer’s site to test a full range of crude oils. Fees charged for providing this service were dependent on scope of services, crude oil sample to be tested, and onsite time requirements. In the fourth quarter 2016, the Company entered a contract to provide these onsite testing services to a North American oil producer and pipeline operator over a one-week period in early 2017 at a fixed price of $50,000. This test was performed in January 2017; data analysis and final report was completed in March 2017. Test results demonstrated viscosity reduction under limited laboratory conditions. The oil producer requested access to observe a full-scale demonstration facility and view operating data when they become available.

In 2014, the Company began development of a new suite of products based around the new electrical heat system which reduces oil viscosity through a process known as joule heat (“Joule Heat”). The Company built and tested its first Joule Heat prototype in June 2015. The system was operational; however, changes to the prototype configuration would be required to determine commercial effectiveness of this unit. In December 2015, we suspended Joule Heat development activities to focus Company resources on finalizing commercial development of the AOT. We may resume Joule Heat development in the future depending on the availability of sufficient capital and other resources.

In July 2017, the Company filed for trademark protection for the word “eDiluent” in advance of rolling out a new marketing and revenue strategy based on the concept of using AOT to reduce pipeline dependence upon diluent to reduce viscosity of crude oils. A primary function of AOT is to reduce viscosity by means of its solid-state electronics technology, in essence providing an electronic form of diluent, or “eDiluent”. Subject to successful testing of our AOT technology and sufficient the availability of operating capital, the Company plans to market and sell a value-added service under the name eDiluent, designed to be upsold by the Company’s midstream pipeline customers in an effort to provide the Company with long-term recurring revenues.

During the third quarter 2017, the Company built a dedicated laboratory space at its then Tomball, Texas facility, providing onsite testing utilizing our laboratory-scale AOT device, among other equipment. Development of an AOT unit for use in crude oil upstream and gathering operations was restarted in September 2017, utilizing resources at the Tomball, Texas facility. Also, during the third quarter 2017, the Company built an outdoor facility at the Tomball, Texas site for onsite storage of AOT inventory and other large equipment.

Throughout 2018 our primary strategic goal was focused on installing and operating a demonstration AOT project on a commercial crude oil pipeline. Much of our time was spent meeting with industry executives and engineers in North and South America and working with local representatives in the Asian and the Middle Eastern markets. In December 2018, we reached mutual agreement with a major U.S.-based pipeline operator on a demonstration project under which we would install and operate our AOT equipment on a crude oil pipeline located in the Southern United States. We believed at the time that the selected project site would be ideal for demonstration purposes, delivering heavy crudes which, based on samples tested at Temple University, and, subject to the discussion below, would experience significant viscosity reduction when treated with our AOT technology.

While management focused on finding a partner and finalizing terms of the demonstration project, and in our continuing efforts to commercialize our AOT technology, our engineering team worked throughout 2018 to prepare one of our inventoried AOT units for deployment. All system upgrade, inspections and testing protocols were completed in December 2018. The pipeline operator finalized site selection and began site design and engineering in January 2019, completing site preparation and equipment installation in June 2019. The project was installed within budget, quality compliant, and without safety incidents. The system passed the pre-start safety review, data acquisition signal verifications, and mechanical inspections. Under full crude oil flow, the system was confirmed to have no leaks and no environmental issues were noted. Data collected during the full-flow startup phase confirmed internal differential pressures to be negligible and consistent with design specifications. However, when the system was energized, and the unit was run-up to high-voltage operations, the primary power supply began to operate erratically and had to be taken offline. Subsequent inspection determined the primary power supply had failed.

After removing the primary power supply, our engineers reconfigured the system to run off a smaller secondary power supply. Although this unit was not capable of achieving target treatment voltage, we performed limited testing and troubleshooting measures, after which the damaged power supply was shipped to the manufacturer for expedited repair and reconditioning. Inspections performed during the repair process indicated internal power supply components had been physically damaged. Though not definitive, it appears that damage may have occurred during transit prior to initial installation at the demonstration site. While the demonstration project was offline for power supply repairs, our engineering team worked with oil samples pulled from the operating pipeline for testing at our then Tomball laboratory facility. These tests were designed to confirm our target power requirements as accurately as possible and help us fine-tune enhancements planned for a new optimized AOT internal grid pack design we had planned to test at the demonstration site as part of our continuing value engineering effort.

During initial testing with the small power supply, current draw was greater than prior field deployments. While it was expected that the small power supply would not achieve treatment voltage, as voltage was increased, actual current draw experienced under test conditions exceeded the operating limit of the power supply. Subsequent laboratory and in-field testing performed at our then Tomball facility showed the electrical conductivity of the oil to be quite high and in line with field observations. Although these tests indicated the unit was generally functioning properly, results further indicated the damaged power supply, once repaired, would not be capable of providing sufficient power to fully treat the crude oil due to the oil’s high electrical conductivity. In anticipation of this result, the Company initiated in advance of testing parallel tasks of: i) installation of the repaired power supply to perform limited testing to confirm laboratory and in-field test results; and ii) procurement of a new power supply capable of providing significantly more power and a modified AOT grid pack assembly reconfigured and generally optimized based on the latest laboratory and in-field test results.

When the repaired power supply was installed in late August 2019, the system operated as expected, and limited testing was performed at that time. Results of this limited testing were consistent with laboratory tests performed to date. As expected, the repaired power supply was not capable of providing sufficient power to fully treat the crude oil under commercial operating conditions. Based on results of this limited testing, Company engineers completed designs and began implementation of modifications to the AOT internal grid pack assembly.

The new high capacity power supply and modified grid pack were installed in December 2019. However, prior to flooding the system with crude oil, early-phase startup testing indicated an electrical short circuit. Subsequent inspection revealed damage to the internal grid pack which likely occurred during installation. The grid pack was shipped offsite for repairs with reinstallation scheduled for January 2020.

The AOT demonstration project continued to experience setbacks during the first quarter of 2020. After repairing and re-installing the modified grid pack, the system shut down again during commissioning presenting with error conditions similar to the December 2019 failure. At that time, based on external inspections and on-site testing, our engineers suspected the grid pack had again been damaged during re-installation and that such suspected damage was the most likely cause of the electrical short circuit. It was determined at that time the best course of action would be to remove the modified grid pack and re-install the original grid pack which had previously been installed multiple times without sustaining damage, and perform a detailed inspection of the modified grid pack in an effort to determine the cause of the electrical short circuit.

Executing this plan, our team removed the modified grid pack and re-installed the original grid pack assembly in the AOT in January 2020. After removal, our engineers performed a detailed inspection of the modified grid pack. Inconsistent with expectations, no damage to the modified grid pack was found during this inspection, leaving the cause of the electrical short circuit undiagnosed.

In January and February 2020, our engineers tested and attempted to operate the AOT under a variety of conditions. In these tests, the system could be run at high voltage, but not high enough for treatment with the installed grid pack, under static “shut-in” conditions; however, the system continued to shut down due to an electrical short circuit when operated under pressure. In simple terms, this means the system could be flooded with crude oil and powered up in excess of 10,000 volts when the system was shut-in by closing the intake and outtake valves which isolates the system from the pipeline’s operating pressure. However, once the valves were opened and the system was subjected to the pipeline’s operating pressure, the system developed an electrical short circuit and shut down.

As the presence of high pressure appears to trigger the short circuit, it was the belief of our engineers that it is unlikely the fault is in the grid pack assembly as this component is fully submerged in crude oil and is generally subjected to equal pressure on all components. The electrical short is more likely developing in the electrical connection assembly built into the blind flange at the top of the pressure vessel, which is subjected to high pressure under normal operating conditions. Unfortunately, this electrical connection assembly could not be inspected without destroying the assembly itself. Instead, our engineers developed a plan to replace the installed blind flange and electrical connection assembly with components from inventory which would be rebuilt prior to installation.

As part of an ongoing reliability-engineering effort, our engineers at that time worked on incremental modifications to improve electrical isolation within the blind flange and electrical connection assembly. These previously developed plans allowed us to move quickly with vendors and present an expedited plan to the pipeline operator. In March 2020, our engineers designed modifications to the blind flange, electrical connections and related housing intended to minimize the effects of high pressure and likelihood of internal electrical short circuits. Concurrently, a blind flange with high voltage assembly was shipped from inventory to a shop with specialized equipment used to strip the flange of all electrical insulation materials. Once the stripping process was complete, castings were made to complete the internal assembly. Our engineers believed at the time that this modification could solve the electrical short issue we have experienced in prior tests.

While the blind flange assembly was being remanufactured, we took the opportunity to implement a number of relatively minor modifications to other system configurations which had been planned for future units based on results of our engineering team’s reliability engineering work over the past two years. These modifications were designed to improve the reliability of internal electrical connections, increase the structural support of the internal grid pack, and maintain higher quality control over internal component positioning and alignment during vertical installation.

Notwithstanding our efforts, the AOT system continues to be non-operational under normal operating conditions. As reported in previous updates on our website at https://qsenergy.com/updates and in our Form 8-K filed with the SEC on March 4, 2020, the AOT system experienced shutdowns during the commissioning process. In December 2019, after installing a modified grid pack and new high-capacity power supply, the system shut down presenting with an electrical short which was determined to be due to damage to the system’s internal grid pack likely incurred during installation. After repairing and re-installing the modified grid pack in January 2020, the system shut down again during commissioning presenting with error conditions similar to the December 2019 failure. At that time, based on external inspections and on-site testing, our engineers suspected the grid pack had again been damaged during re-installation and that such suspected damage was the most likely cause of the electrical short circuit. As reported in our January 24, 2020 website update page, it was determined at that time the best course of action would be to remove the modified grid pack and re-install the original grid pack which had previously been installed multiple times without sustaining damage, and perform a detailed inspection of the modified grid pack in an effort to determine the cause of the electrical short circuit.

Executing on this plan, our team removed the modified grid pack and re-installed the original grid pack assembly in the AOT. After removal, our engineers performed a detailed inspection of the modified grid pack. Inconsistent with our expectations, no damage to the modified grid pack was found during this inspection, leaving the cause of the most recent electrical short circuit undiagnosed.

We have tested and attempted to operate the AOT under a variety of conditions. We have been able to bring the system up to high voltage under static “shut-in” conditions; however, as reported above, the system continued to shut down due to an electrical short circuit when operated under pressure. In simple terms, as also reported above, this means we can flood the system with crude oil, shut-in the system by closing the intake and outtake valves isolating the system from the pipeline’s operating pressure, and power up the system in excess of 10,000 volts. Once the valves are opened and the system is subjected to the pipeline’s operating pressure, the system develops an electrical short circuit and shuts down. Because of our inability to fully diagnose the cause of our current electrical problems, we can provide no assurances that we will not face other operational issues after completing a full diagnosis and evaluation of our technology.

As previously reported, in December 2018, we entered into an agreement with a major U.S.-based pipeline operator under which the Company installed its AOT equipment on a crude oil pipeline located in the Southern United States for testing and demonstration purposes. Based on laboratory tests and operations of prototype equipment at other locations, we had a reasonable expectation that the equipment would operate successfully and that test results would demonstrate quantifiable benefits to pipeline operators. This has not occurred.

As reported in the Company’s Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on March 31, 2020 and June 29, 2020, respectively, and in website updates published on the Company’s website at https://qsenergy.com/updates, the Company experienced a number of difficulties and delays at the demonstration site. Despite identifying and implementing numerous design modifications over several months, the Company was unable to successfully operate its AOT equipment.

In late June 2020, equipment modifications intended to mitigate electrical short circuit issues identified in earlier tests were completed. During startup testing, the system experienced a new failure mode in which the system could be operated at a baseline high voltage (well below operational voltage required to treat heavy crude), but after a period of time, the system would drop to very low voltage indicating a reduction in electrical resistance in the AOT. This voltage drop was both dynamic, developing over time as electrical current was applied; and transient, in that the power supply could be shut-down and re-started with this voltage drop characteristic repeating. After reviewing these results and running subsequent in-field tests at the direction of the power supply manufacturer, they recommended a configuration modification to the control module of the system’s high-voltage power supply which, in their experience, could resolve the system’s ability to maintain constant voltage under our unique operating conditions in which the AOT essentially acts as a very large capacitor. During the first week of July 2020, we modified the power supply control module at the direction of the power supply manufacturer. Though this modification did appear to solve the voltage drop issue, the AOT could not achieve operational voltage as the system control module indicated arc-faults when high voltage was applied above the baseline voltage levels. After many attempts to bring the system up to operating voltage, arc-faults continued until the AOT demonstrated symptoms of what appeared to be a dead short (electrical short-to-ground; voltage dropped to zero) and the system could no longer be re-started.

Our engineers have working concepts as to what may be causing this most recent failure but will not be able to fully diagnose these issues at the demonstration site. After discussions with our demonstration pipeline partner, it has been mutually agreed that the best course of action will be to move the equipment from the demonstration site to another location where our engineers could disassemble and inspect the equipment. Our AOT equipment has been moved to storage, inspection, and testing sites in the state of Mississippi and in Tomball, Texas. Our former demonstration partner has indicated their continued interest in our AOT technology and may consider installation and operation of a new AOT demonstration project if our operational issues can be resolved.

Though our engineers have working concepts as to what may be causing the most recent voltage drop and arc-fault issues, it is unknown whether these issues can be solved with minor modifications to the current design. To fully diagnose and resolve these issues, new testing would likely need to be performed in a laboratory setting. The time and cost of implementing such a plan would likely be significant. The Company does not currently have sufficient capital to take on this endeavor. We shut down all testing of our AOT product in July 2020, due to a lack of operating capital, except we received limited capital in 2021, allowing us to commence some additional testing of our AOT product.

Following our receipt of such limited capital, our engineer commenced re-testing operations in June 2021. Our engineer has reported that the AOT has been unloaded and the electrical connection has been ordered. The unit will undergo testing to try and duplicate the electrical short condition experienced at the test site. After initial testing, a troubleshooting sequence will be performed to attempt to identify the location of the short. If an electrical short can be found based on our hypothesis, we intend to resolve it. If the electrical short cannot be found the AOT will be disassembled and tested in pieces, assuming we are able to raise sufficient capital to do so. Additionally, laboratory materials testing of the electrical insulation will be initiated. Measurement of the electrical properties of both newly cast and material both exposed and submerged in fluid will be done to determine if the resin remains our material of choice. Our engineer reports that he is expecting to visit the AOT in July 2021 to inspect all the connections and conduct initial testing while the AOT is empty. He further reports that lab test fixtures are being designed and initial designs could be available for review in August 2021. Because of our inability fully to diagnose the cause of our current electrical problems, we can provide no assurances that we will not face other operational issues after completing a full diagnosis and evaluation of our technology, requiring additional capital, which, as pointed out, may not be available to us.

Additionally, if we are able to raise sufficient capital we would also consider designing, testing and commercializing a smaller scale AOT unit targeting upstream, trucking and rail applications. This strategy could reduce development time and costs, with the intention of moving back into the midstream crude oil pipeline market subsequent to successful commercial operations at a smaller scale.

The Company currently has limited capital resources and will need to raise substantial capital to continue operations. We are considering all options but can provide no assurances that additional capital will be available to us, or if it is, that such additional capital will be offered at acceptable terms, nor can we provide any assurances that if capital would be available to us on acceptable terms, any redesign and testing of our AOT equipment would prove successful.

Assuming the corrective actions discussed above are achieved, our plans moving forward are centered on achieving commercial adoption of our AOT device. Assuming successful operations, we believe the AOT project should provide data requested by prospective customers such as real-time changes in viscosity, pipeline pressure drop reduction and increases in pipeline operating flowrates. All collected data at the AOT demonstration site will be normalized such that it can be used to evaluate the financial and operational benefits across a wide range of commercial operating scenarios without disclosing confidential details of our demonstration partner’s operations. We believe that real-world data from our AOT project may be used to accelerate our desire to achieve commercial adoption of our AOT technology, positioning us to re-engage with industry executives.

The results of the electrical testing of the insulating material showed that the material is functioning as designed. However, during the testing it was discovered that the material swells when exposed to crude oil. The current design does not accommodate a change in size of the parts. New materials were sourced and tested as potential replacements. A couple of new materials have been found that offer improved stability when submerged in crude oil for extended periods of time. To expedite the search several materials tested were purchased of the shelf while working with our vendors to source new commercial materials. The data has been shared with our vendors and they are working on providing us with samples of commercial versions of the promising materials.

We have also validated that a new design concept for the grid pack will reduce arcing and allowed us to apply full voltage during a recent test. A 3rd party engineering firm with proper experience and three-dimensional modeling software was engaged. A design review has been completed and final drawings have been received. Drawings have been sent to our vendors for review and pending no issues the ordering process for prototype parts, for fit and electrical testing, should commence at some point during fiscal year 2022.

The work through May 2022 mainly focused on selecting a new material of construction for the insulating parts to reduce possible absorption of oil by the insulators. Absorbing components from crude oil could lead to a change in size and possibly to unanticipated mechanical and electrical properties.

In August 2022 we completed the testing of the stack assembly. The stack assembly did not suffer the arcing problems we saw when testing a stack assembly made from parts of the full size AOT. It appeared that we accomplished the goal of eliminating the sources of arcing that prevented us from achieving treatment voltages with this new design.

The lessons learned during the stack assembly test have been applied and the results incorporated into the designs for the spacer rings and the screens. This change to the isolator ring design resulted in some iterative designs to optimize the casting tooling or molds. The time spent on this redesign created a delay in our goal for testing in September 2022.

Since reporting our findings on October 7, 2021, we have been able to positively confirm and correct 80% of what we have determined thus far to be the necessary improvements for a reliable and field worthy AOT. Based on the results of the recent component testing, we were able to rework the original grid pack, achieve high voltage in air and oil to verify that the individual components worked when assembled. As previously explained, the reason for component testing is to reveal a potential problem that could be otherwise concealed with a fully assembled AOT.

Once all the parts were delivered for a full AOT, we assembled the stack and installed the stack into the vessel. The vessel was filled with oil and tested. We were able to apply full voltage of 40.1kV to the AOT. We believe the AOT is ready to test with customer oil and be deployed back into the field. Having achieved a positive hydrostatic test, we were able to have our final engineering call with our new potential development partner. We are currently in pursuit of an LOI to include financial metrics for a commercially viable contract.

At this point, we have reopened discussions with our original development partner as well as reaching out to others. While we have tested with a representative oil sample, we have not yet reached an agreement with a development partner allowing us to test a development partner's actual pipeline oil as a prelude to another field test. Our efforts continue to reach agreement with a suitable development partner as our next step to develop and commercialize our AOT technology.

QS Energy is working to maintain normal operations during the current COVID-19 pandemic under social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines as recommended or required by the CDC, federal, state and county government agencies. Over the past few years, the Company moved much of its operations to the cloud. Our employees can perform most vital functions remotely. Currently, most day-to-day operations have been minimally impacted by COVID-19.

It is unclear, however, what impact COVID-19 may have on our supply chain, or on our ability to operate and test our AOT technology. As of the date of this report, few suppliers related to our testing efforts have announced reduced operating capacity or advised us of delays related to COVID-19 restrictions; furthermore, we have not been made aware of any COVID-19 restrictions at that would impact our ability to restart our onsite testing activities.

Our expenses to date have been funded through the sale of shares of common stock and convertible debt, as well as proceeds from the exercise of stock purchase warrants and options. We will need to raise substantial additional capital through 2023, and beyond, to fund work on our AOT, our sales and marketing efforts, continuing research and development, and certain other expenses, including without limitation, legal and accounting expenses, until we are able to achieve a revenue base. We can provide no assurances that additional capital will be available to us, or if it is, that such additional capital will be offered at acceptable terms. Please see note 12 (Subsequent Events) of our Consolidated Financial Statements, attached hereto.

There are significant risks associated with our business, our Company and our stock. See “Risk Factors,” below.

Our Business Strategy

Assuming we are able to raise sufficient capital, we intend to continue to seek commercialization and marketing of our current technologies. Our current and primary product portfolio is dedicated to the crude oil production and transportation marketplace, with a specifically targeted product offering for enhancing the flow-assurance parameters of new and existing pipeline gathering and transmission systems.

Our primary goal is to provide the oil industry with a cost-effective method by which to increase the number of barrels of oil able to be transported per day through the industry’s existing and newly built pipelines. The greatest impact on oil transport volume may be realized through reductions in pipeline operator reliance on diluent for viscosity reduction utilizing AOT technology; a process the Company refers to as electronic diluent, or “eDiluent”. The Company filed for trademark protection of the term eDiluent in 2017. We also seek to provide the oil industry with a way to reduce emissions from operating equipment. We believe our goals are realizable via viscosity reduction using our AOT product line.

We believe QS Energy’s technologies will enable the petroleum industry to gain key value advantages boosting profit, while satisfying the needs of regulatory bodies at the same time. Key players in the pipeline industry continue to demonstrate interest in our technologies.

Our manufacturing strategy is to contract with third-party vendors and suppliers, each with a strong reputation and proven track record in the pipeline industry. These vendors are broken up by product component subcategory, enabling multiple manufacturing capacity redundancies and safeguards to be utilized. In addition, this strategy allows the Company to eliminate the prohibitively high capital expenditures such as costs of building, operating and maintaining its own manufacturing facilities, ratings, personnel and licenses, thereby eliminating unnecessary capital intensity and risk.

Our identified market strategy is to continue meeting with oil and gas industry executives in the upstream, gathering, and midstream sectors from both domestic and foreign companies. Our goal is to introduce our technology to oil and gas companies and to demonstrate potential value for the purposes of negotiating commercial implementation of our AOT technology to their existing infrastructures.

Our strategy includes:

Market Analysis Overview

QS Energy’s AOT crude oil viscosity reduction technology directly targets the heavy crude oil transportation industry, initially targeting the midstream crude oil pipeline operations which deliver high volumes of heavy crude oil to market. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts U.S. crude oil production will average 13.0 million barrels per day in 2020, up 0.8 million barrels per day from 2019, but then fall to 12.7 million barrels per day in 2021. The forecast decline in 2021 is in response to lower oil prices and would mark the first annual U.S. crude oil production decline since 2016. Worldwide, EIA forecasts crude oil prices averaging $43.30 per barrel in 2020, increasing to $55.36 per barrel in 2021. In recent months, oil prices have been driven to local lows due to a number of external factors. In March 2020, combined factors of the coronavirus pandemic and increase OPEC output drove Brent Crude prices as low as $20 per barrel compared to an average $64 per barrel for Brent Crude in 2019. Despite this quick drop in crude prices, long-term forecasts remain strong. The EIA forecasts that, by 2025, the average price of a barrel of Brent crude oil will rise to $82 per barrel, growing to $93 per barrel (quoted in 2018 dollars to remove the effects of inflation). Prices are expected to continue to increase as cheap sources of oil are exhausted, making it more expensive to extract oil.

In 2019, demand for crude oil averaged 101 million barrels per day. The EIA forecasts demand will remain flat, averaging 102 million barrels per day by the end of 2021. Long-term, EIA forecasting demand to grow at an average of 0.4% annually. Commitments to stop climate change introduced more uncertainty into future oil demand. Barclays predicted that oil demand could peak by 2025, falling by as much as 30% by 2050 if countries kept their Paris Climate Accord commitments.

2018 worldwide crude oil production at 82 million barrels per day. North American production (U.S. and Canada) is estimated at 16 million barrels per day. At $50 per barrel, this represents annual worldwide and North American sales of $1.5 trillion and $292 billion, respectively. The EIA estimates 71% worldwide crude oil production is transported by midstream pipelines, with 90% of North American production transported by midstream pipelines. In 2014, the Congressional Research Service estimated the average cost of midstream pipeline transportation at $5 per barrel. Assuming a $5 per barrel transportation cost and 2018 crude oil production rates, annual worldwide and North American midstream crude oil transportation costs are approximately $83 billion and $22 billion, respectively.

The energy sector continues to operate in a period of both rapid change and expansion. Due to the relatively recent and widespread adoption of advanced oilfield drilling and completion technologies, known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, enormous reserves of “tight” oil and gas are now recoverable from shale formations throughout North America and the world. This historic surge in upstream crude oil production has resulted in costly and persistent transportation bottlenecks when moving upstream production to downstream storage, offloading facilities and refineries. This persistent and severe industrywide problem is stimulating investments in new and existing pipeline infrastructure and a reliance on less desirable alternate forms of transport, including rail and freight truck.

Since the initial use of EOR or tertiary recovery techniques in the 1970s, oil and gas producers have progressively relied more heavily on the application of gas and chemical injection as well as thermal recovery. These extraction techniques, coupled with a much greater number of new wells in active oilfields, has raised the output of reservoirs by 30 to 60 percent above traditional primary and secondary recovery practices. Due to the rapid adoption of advanced extraction technologies throughout the U.S. energy industry, a 34-year decline in domestic oil and gas production was reversed in 2006. Historically high output from massive shale formations such as North Dakota’s Bakken, Texas’ Eagle Ford and Permian Basin, Colorado’s Green River and Utah’s Uintah Basin continues to the present day.

Other nations with significant exploitable shale formations include Russia, China, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Libya, Australia, Venezuela, Mexico and dozens of others, providing a ready market for crude oil pipeline optimization technologies as production comes online. All told, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates there to be 345 billion barrels of identified and recoverable shale oil worldwide.

Consequently, oil production exceeds the capacity of existing pipelines in the U.S., Canada, South and Central America, and many other regions of the world, often resulting in delivery delays to refineries and increased reliance on more costly rail and tanker truck transport.

Recently, the softening of oil prices worldwide has incentivized producers and transporters to reduce costs and seek technologies that can provide greater operational efficiencies. AOT is specifically designed to increase pipeline capacity, while reducing reliance on diluent, pipeline operating costs and overhead, thereby increasing margins and delivering measurable competitive advantages.

Projected Pipeline Infrastructure Investment

Among the challenges facing the global crude oil production and transportation sectors, few are as intransigent or detrimental to the industry as the transportation bottlenecks and well-to-market delivery delays that are endemic here in North America and overseas. While new pipeline infrastructure projects are underway here in the U.S., Canada and in foreign markets, gaining legislative approval is a lengthy process and their construction is highly capital-intensive.

Although pipelines are by far the safest and most economical transportation method, outmoded pipeline infrastructure constructed primarily in the 1950s and 1960s cannot provide the capacity necessary to move production downstream to storage, refinery and offloading facilities. Consequently, delivery delays to refineries and reliance on less desirable rail and tanker truck transport have increased exponentially since 2008 when the shale boom began in earnest. Data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, IHS Global and the American Petroleum Institute identify billions in lost revenue opportunities for E&P companies and tax collection agencies in leading oil producing states such as Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, California, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah directly attributable to production takeaway constraints.

Despite the recently depressed price level of global oil benchmarks, experts forecast continued growth in crude oil pipeline capital expenditures. In June 2018, the Interstate National Gas Association of America published a study titled “North America Midstream Infrastructure through 2035.” Among its key findings, this report estimates $321 billion will be invested in midstream crude oil infrastructure between 2018 and 2035. This demand is largely due to capacity constraints coupled with the high cost of delivering crude oil by truck or rail.

We believe QS Energy’s AOT technology is strategically aligned with the major requirements and challenges facing the petroleum pipeline economy. The AOT is designed to increase pipeline flowrate while relaxing pipeline viscosity requirements, effectively increasing pipeline capacity and reducing or eliminating bottlenecks. This has the ancillary benefit of reducing the need to add diluent or heat to reduce viscosity while reducing reliance on more costly truck and rail transport to meet increasing capacity demands. Our AOT technology may also mitigate costly operating factors such as vapor pressure, pigging (pipeline cleaning) frequency, power consumption, and onset of turbulent flow. Of these factors, vapor pressure, which may be mitigated by AOT through reduced reliance on diluent and a reduction in heat buildup in transit, is of high importance to many pipeline operators as vapor pressure is tightly controlled by the EPA and is very expensive to mitigate by other means. We are now seeking to commercialize AOT as a cost-efficient solution for both new and existing pipeline operations.

Target Markets

The oil and gas sector market can be segmented into three primary categories: Upstream Producers, Midstream Transporters and Downstream Refiners:

Upstream Producers

The Upstream segment has the greatest exposure to commodity prices. When prices fall as has been the case recently, they feel the brunt of this realignment. They also have the most to gain from additional flow throughput capacity and therefore would see immediate benefit from QS Energy’s AOT.

This sector is typically nimble and faces few barriers to entry. With clear financial upside for every additional barrel of crude oil that they are able to transport, these companies are often open to new and innovative technology capable of providing greater efficiencies, lower costs and improved cash flow. Upstream producers physically move the most volume of product. They are customers to the Midstream transporters and enter into long-term contractual shipping obligations (tariff-based transportation contracts) with Midstream transporters to secure the movement of product from their fields to the refiners and markets downstream.

Producers make the spot market price for every barrel delivered to refinery, minus the transport costs, tariffs, and marketing discounts associated with bringing the product to market. A rough rule of thumb for this market is that the further away they are from the refinery, the higher the transport costs to deliver the product. Discussions with Upstream entities has uncovered strong interest in solutions that unlock chokepoints from their field equipment to the transmission line loading terminals through viscosity reduction (AOT). In addition, this group would also benefit from transporters implementing our AOT transmission-line series due to its ability to increase the overall flow capacity of pipelines transporting product from loading terminals to market.

Midstream Gathering Transporters

A subset of the Midstream transporters sector is the gathering line operators. This group often functions as a part of the Upstream producers’ operations, or within the Midstream transporter’s operations. Midstream gathering lines are the regional transportation infrastructure that connect Upstream oilfield gathering lines to Midstream long-distance main trunk lines. Typically, these pipelines are of a relatively short length (20-100 miles) and have diameters between 6” and 12”, and could benefit from our smaller, lower cost AOT technology.

Midstream entities transport the bulk of the world’s crude oil output via the 400,000 miles of crude oil pipelines globally. Domestically, they deliver a large percentage of the U.S. daily production of 9.2 million barrels per day through 160,000 miles of crude pipelines. Midstream operators represent a strong and ready market for AOT, and field test deployments for both solutions are underway.

The pipeline transport operators’ business model is to charge a tariff to transport each barrel of oil through their pipeline. Due to the high daily volume of oil being transported and its value as a commodity, even incremental performance efficiencies can drive significant reductions in overhead reduction and increases in toll revenues. AOT may also provide pipeline operators the opportunity to offer on-demand electronic diluent as a service at a premium fee to customers highly dependent on diluent to meet viscosity requirements.

The potential benefits of AOT includes increased flow, reduced pipeline operating pressure and reduced friction losses and friction-induced heat build-up, providing economic benefits through increased capacity and toll rate income, and regulatory benefits through reductions in BTU per ton-mile, off-gassing and reduced carbon emissions (CO2).

Other heavy crude oil transporters

Truck, rail and marine crude oil carriers rely on heat and other costly and potentially hazardous measures to address the difficulties of onloading and offloading thick, heavy crudes. The Company is investigating AOT equipment designs specifically targeting this market’s viscosity and vapor pressure requirements and related evaporation mitigation practices mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Our Products and Technology

AOT Commercial Products

Beginning in the second quarter of 2012, the Company began the design and engineering efforts required to transition from laboratory and prototype testing to AOT units designed for full-scale commercial testing. The Company established its supply chain, designs, drawings, engineering, certifications and specifications to comply with the engineering audit processes as dictated by the energy industry regulation processes and North American regulatory bodies. We have built, delivered and tested, under limited duration and conditions, AOT equipment on a high-volume commercial pipeline. We have not proven the commercial viability of this product. Please see “ITEM 1A, Risk Factors”, for a discussion associated with the commercial viability of our products.

The first commercial deployment of AOT occurred on the Keystone Pipeline in Udall, Kansas in May 2014, utilizing four AOT pressure vessels in a parallel “4-Pack” configuration for a cumulative capacity of 600,000 barrels per day. This system was operated under normal pipeline operating conditions as reported in the ATS RheoSystems field test summary report dated February 5, 2015. See section titled “Laboratory and Scientific Testing” below for more information on test procedures and results. Subsequent to testing and termination of the TransCanada lease, the AOT 4-Pack was uninstalled and reconfigured for deployment as four individual AOT units.

Our second AOT commercial installation was a single AOT deployment initially installed in March 2015 on the Kinder Morgan Crude & Condensate pipeline, which provides takeaway capacity for the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, primarily delivering light crude oil. As discussed in the Overview section above, equipment was installed limited operations and tests were performed in 2015 and 2016. Based on final analysis of in-field test results, SCADA operating data and subsequent analysis of crude oil samples at Temple University, it is unlikely Kinder Morgan would use the AOT at the original test location or other condensate pipeline. Kinder Morgan may consider AOT operations at one of their heavy crude pipeline locations subject to results of other AOT demonstration projects.

The Company continues to optimize and value engineer its AOT product line, targeting both midstream and upstream markets. The Company has installed an AOT demonstration project in cooperation with a major U.S. pipeline operator. As described in the Overview section above, this project has experienced numerous failures during initial testing which the Company is working to correct. As reported above, the project was removed from the demonstration site.

Joule Heat Product Development

The Company began development of its Joule Heat product in 2014, based around the new electrical heat system which reduces oil viscosity through a process known as joule heat, specifically targeting the upstream crude oil transportation market. The Company’s first Joule Heat prototype was installed for testing purposes under a joint development agreement with Newfield Exploration Company in June 2015 and the system was operational; however, changes to the prototype configuration will be required to determine commercial effectiveness of this unit. In December 2015, we suspended Joule Heat development activities to focus Company resources on finalizing commercial development of the AOT. We may resume Joule Heat development in the future depending on the availability of sufficient capital and other resources.

AOT Commercial Supply Chain

The Company has developed a supply chain for fabrication of the commercial AOT. The supply chain consists of multiple component suppliers and manufacturing companies engaged under Independent Contractor Agreements according to their respective fields of expertise. The supply chain entities have been chosen for their ability to work collaboratively with QS Energy and for their existing relationships with current and potential future customers of QS Energy technologies. The external components such as pressure vessels, inlet and outlet piping header systems, personnel and equipment shelters have been manufactured under contract with Power Service Inc. with offices in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and Texas. Internal components such as grid packs, electrical connections and other machined parts have been manufactured by Industrial Screen and Maintenance, with offices in Wyoming and Colorado. All equipment is manufactured in the United States of America, using only approved raw materials and vendors for quality control and import/export compliance purposes and meet the certifications and specifications as dictated by our customers and their independent oversight and auditing authorities.

Other components such as power systems, electrical junction boxes, cabling, hardware, switches, circuit breakers, computer equipment, sensors, SCADA/PLC, software and other power and integration equipment are purchased as complete units from various suppliers with operations based throughout North America. All component vendors are required to meet or exceed the same specifications as the parts manufacturers to maintain compliance as dictated by our customers and their independent oversight and auditing authorities.

AOT Intellectual Property

The Company began its own independent audit process for the updating of its intellectual property portfolio in 2012. The goal of this process was to streamline unnecessary legacy items left over from prior management, consolidate efforts to countries and regions of interest and retire items that were no longer valid or had been replaced with new intellectual property developments. In 2013, the Company retained the law firm of Jones Walker LLP, with operations based in Houston, Texas and began consolidation and streamlining efforts to manage intellectual properties.

QS Energy is currently maintaining and licensing from Temple University a portfolio of domestic and international patents, which have either been granted or have been published and are pending subject to final approval by the respective patent agency. Each of these intellectual properties are related to QS Energy’s AOT, Joule Heat and Fuel Injector technologies. Subject to additional capital funding, we intend actively to continue to develop and market our AOT technology. Development of QS Energy’s Fuel Injector and Joule Heat technologies have been suspended. The Company continues to maintain a license agreement with Temple University with respect to the underlying Fuel Injector patents, and is considering its options to re-start commercialization, sublicense the technology, or terminate the fuel injector license agreement with Temple. For details of the licensing agreements with Temple University, see Financial Statements attached hereto, Note 6. Please see ITEM 1A, Risk Factors below for a discussion of risks associated with these intellectual properties.

Current Business Status

As reported above, our AOT technology had design and operational flaws, and continues to require substantial testing and development, requiring a substantial infusion of capital in the Company. We can provide no assurances that we will be able to raise additional capital required to continue our efforts to commercialize our AOT technology. With limited capital, reported above, the Company is currently seeking to correct the failures associated with its AOT technology. Once operational, the Company plans to analyze and use AOT performance data to re-engage current and new prospective customers in our primary target North American and South American midstream crude oil markets. See the Overview section above for details.

Throughout 2021, our efforts have been tightly focused on executing our AOT demonstration project strategy. A number of companies in North America, South America and the Middle East have expressed interest in our technology and a desire to review demonstration project test results and visit the demonstration site. Assuming successful operations, we believe our AOT project should provide data requested by prospective customers such as real-time changes in viscosity, pipeline pressure drop reduction and increases in pipeline operating flowrates. All collected data will be normalized such that it can be used to evaluate the financial and operational benefits across a wide range of commercial operating scenarios without disclosing confidential details of our operations. We believe that real-world data from our AOT project could be used to accelerate our desire to achieve commercial adoption of our AOT technology, positioning us to re-engage with industry executives.

Laboratory and Scientific Testing

From 2010 through 2013, the Company worked with the U.S. Department of Energy (“US DOE”) to test its technology at the Department of Energy’s Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (“RMOTC”), near Casper, Wyoming. This third-party testing independently verified the efficacy of the Company’s technology operating in a controlled facility, using commercial-scale prototype of our AOT equipment. These tests were summarized in the US DOE Rocky Mountain Oilfield Test Center report dated April 4, 2012 (“ROMRC Report”), which reported AOT measured pressure loss reduction of 40% and viscosity reduction of 40%; and reported observed reductions in line-loss and gains in pump operation efficiency across the entire length of the 4.4-mile test pipeline. A subsequent long-duration (24-hour) test at the RMOTC facility tested the effectiveness of AOT in treating oil overnight, as pipeline oil temperatures and viscosities drop. In its report dated May 3, 2012 to May 4, 2012, US DOE engineers recorded 56% reduction in viscosity of the AOT-treated oil versus untreated oil, with AOT effectively stabilizing oil viscosity throughout the overnight run despite dropping temperatures.

Laboratory testing of our AOT technology has been conducted by Dr. Rongjia Tao. Testing of the technology as applied to crude oil transmission has been conducted at Temple University in their Physics Department, in addition to the US DOE, at their Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center, located on the Naval Petroleum Reserve #3 Teapot Dome Oilfield, north of Casper, Wyoming. In addition, a group led by Dr. Rongjia Tao, Chairman, Department of Physics of Temple University conducted experiments, using the laboratory-scale Applied Oil Technology apparatus at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research (CNR). NIST is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, founded in 1901 in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Independent laboratory testing was also conducted as a collaborative effort by Temple University and PetroChina Pipeline R&D Center (“PetroChina”) in 2012. In its report dated June 26, 2012 (“PetroChina Report”), PetroChina concluded, “The above series of tests show that it is very effective to use AOT to reduce the viscosity of crude oil. We can see that AOT has significantly reduced the viscosity of Daqing crude oil, Changqing crude oil, and Venezuela crude oil, and greatly improved its flow rate.”

As previously reported in 2014, QS Energy installed and tested its commercial AOT equipment, leased and operated by TransCanada on TransCanada’s high-volume Keystone pipeline operation. The first full test of the AOT equipment on the Keystone pipeline was performed in July 2014, with preliminary data analyzed and reported by Dr. Rongjia Tao of Temple University. Upon review of the July 2014 test results and preliminary report by Dr. Tao, QS Energy and TransCanada mutually agreed that this initial test was flawed due to, among other factors, the short-term nature of the test, the inability to isolate certain independent pipeline operating factors such as fluctuations in upstream pump station pressures, and limitations of the AOT device to produce a sufficient electric field to optimize viscosity reduction. Although Dr. Tao’s preliminary report indicated promising results, QS Energy and TransCanada mutually agreed that no conclusions could be reliably reached from the July 2014 test or from Dr. Tao’s preliminary report. As a result of this test, the Company modified its testing protocols and contracted with an independent laboratory, ATS RheoSystems, a division of CANNON (“ATS”), to perform follow-up tests at the TransCanada facility. This independent laboratory performed viscosity measurements at the TransCanada facility during subsequent testing in September 2014. As detailed in its field test report dated October 6, 2014, ATS measured AOT viscosity reductions of 8% to 23% depending on flow rates and crude oil types in transit. Over the duration of a 24-hour test intended to measure the recovery of the AOT treated oil from its reduced-viscosity treated state to its original pre-treated viscosity, ATS measured viscosity reductions of 23% three hours after treatment and 11% thirteen hours after treatment, with the crude oil returning to its untreated state approximately twenty-two hours after treatment. In its summary report dated February 5, 2015, ATS concluded that i) data indicated a decrease in viscosity of crude oil flowing through the TransCanada pipeline due to AOT treatment of the crude oil; and ii) the power supply installed on our equipment would need to be increased to maximize reduction in viscosity and take full advantage of the AOT technology.

Although, as reported by ATS, the efficacy of the AOT technology operated in the TransCanada field test was constrained due to limitations of the electric field applied by that unit’s power supply, subsequent analysis by QS Energy personnel of ATS test results compared against laboratory tests performed at Temple University on oil samples provided by TransCanada revealed a single test run in which the electric field generated by the AOT was sufficient to fully treat the oil given operating conditions at the time of the test. In this test run, ATS measured a 23% reduction in viscosity three hours after AOT treatment. Laboratory tests at Temple University performed on a sample of crude oil provided by TransCanada of the same type treated in that specific field test measured a 27% reduction in viscosity in the laboratory immediately following treatment. Allowing for the actual three-hour of recovery time of the field test measurement, the resulting field test viscosity reduction of 23% correlates very well to the 27% viscosity reduction achieved in the laboratory setting.

Due to the small sample size of tests performed during the TransCanada field test, results reported by ATS are statistically inconclusive and cannot be relied upon to provide proof of AOT efficacy. While more testing is required to establish the efficacy of our AOT technology, we are encouraged by the findings of our independent research laboratory and the results of subsequent comparative analysis of data collected under laboratory and commercial operating conditions. We look forward to further development and commercialization of our technology. The TransCanada Lease was terminated by TransCanada, effective October 15, 2014. The Company has modified the design of the AOT power supply such that future installations of the AOT device are expected to achieve sufficient electric field to optimize viscosity reduction.

The Company contracted Southern Research Company (“SRI”) in 2015 to perform independent laboratory tests on its prototype Joule Heat units AOT Upstream units. SRI performed tests on a prototype Joule Heat unit in September 2015, which showed promising results in which the Joule Heat prototype was observed to increase crude oil temperatures. In December 2015, we suspended Joule Heat and AOT Upstream development activities to focus Company resources on finalizing commercial development of the AOT Midstream.

See also our discussion above in Item 1. Under the section labeled Overview.

Competition

The oil transportation industry is highly competitive. We are aware of only three currently available competitive technologies in widespread use for reducing the viscosity of oil throughout the world. Many of our competitors have greater financial, research, marketing and staff resources than we do. For instance, oil pipeline operators use heat, diluents such as naphtha and/or natural gasoline, and/or chemical viscosity reduction additives, or chemical drag-reducing agents to improve flow in pipelines. Our research indicates that these methods are either very energy-intensive, or costly to implement on a day-to-day basis. Management believes that the Company’s AOT technology presents advantages over traditional methods, yet the industry’s willingness to experiment with new technology may pose some challenges in acceptance.

We are not aware of any other technology using uniform electrical field crude oil viscosity reduction technology which is designed to significantly improve pipeline operation efficiency. Although we are unaware of any technologies that compete directly with our technologies, there can be no assurance that any unknown existing or future technology will not be superior to products incorporating our AOT technology. Major domestic and international manufacturers and distributors of pipeline flow-improvement chemical solutions include Pemex, Petrotrin, Pluspetrol, Repsol, Glencore, Conoco-Philips, and Baker-Hughes. According to our research, heater skid manufacturers are generally local to the oilfield and pipeline regions, and are comprised of a large number of relatively small businesses in a fragmented industry. Major heater skid manufacturers are Parker, KW International, Thermotech Systems, LTD.

Government Regulation and Environmental Matters

Our research and development activities are not subject to any governmental regulations that would have a significant impact on our business and we believe that we are in compliance with all applicable regulations that apply to our business as it is presently conducted. Our products, as such, are not subject to certification or approval by the EPA or other governmental agencies domestically or internationally. Depending upon whether we manufacture or license our products in the future and in which countries such products are manufactured or sold, we may be subject to regulations, including environmental regulations, at such time.

Non-Disclosure Agreements

To protect our intellectual property, we have entered into agreements with certain employees and consultants, which limit access to, and disclosure or use of, our technology. There can be no assurance, however, that the steps we have taken to deter misappropriation of our intellectual property or third-party development of our technology and/or processes will be adequate, that others will not independently develop similar technologies and/or processes or that secrecy will not be breached. In addition, although management believes that our technology has been independently developed and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of others, there can be no assurance that our technology does not and will not so infringe or that third parties will not assert infringement claims against us in the future. Management believes that the steps they have taken to date will provide some degree of protection; however, no assurance can be given that this will be the case.

Employees

As of December 31, 2022, the Company had two (2) full-time employees. We also utilized the services of part-time consultants on an as-needed basis to assist us with various matters, including engineering, logistics, investor relations, public relations, accounting and sales and marketing. We intend to hire additional personnel to provide services when they are needed on a full-time basis. We recognize that our efficiency largely depends, in part, on our ability to hire and retain additional qualified personnel as and when needed and we have adopted procedures to assure our ability to do so.