Steven Campbell

St. John's, NL (CAN)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Trans Ocean Gas Inc

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Location: St. John's
Industry: Energy
Year Founded: 2001
Number Employees: 10-50 people
Description: Trans Ocean Gas Inc. has developed a unique and cost-effective solution to transporting natural gas by ship, road, and by rail. It owns the patent rights to using fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) pressure vessels to transport compressed natural gas (CNG) in bulk. FRP technology has already been proven safe and reliable through applications in the aerospace and natural gas vehicle industries. Several ISO standards currently exist for FRP pressure vessels. Trans Ocean Gas is incorporated and located in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The increasing demand for natural gas throughout the world, combined with the limitations on current methods to transport it, have created a major need for a cost-effective alternative. As approximately half of the world’s discovered natural gas is considered economically stranded, a solution to transport stranded natural gas is in dire need. CNG is that solution. The immense size of the emerging CNG market has attracted approximately six CNG proponents globally. Fortunate for Trans Ocean Gas, it holds distinct competitive advantages over its potential competitors. The advantages are: light weight, safety from rupture, corrosion resistance, and increased strength at lower temperatures. And, even if all of the current proponents are successfully commercialized, there will still be sufficient projects for Trans Ocean Gas to reap a substantial portion of the emerging CNG market. The business model of Trans Ocean Gas is relatively simple; it will manufacture and lease its FRP-CNG systems to clients wishing to transport CNG. Through the current certification project, a significant amount of the fabrication process has been contracted out. However, for the commercialization of its technology, Trans Ocean Gas plans to fabricate its CNG systems in-house. Much of the required equipment is already owned by Trans Ocean Gas. As Trans Ocean Gas grows, it plans to increase its proportion of the value chain that it creates by also charging a tariff on the volume of CNG transported. The distant plan is to own upstream assets. Since incorporation, Trans Ocean Gas has met many of its targeted milestones toward commercializing its technology. It is now just three months away from obtaining marine certification of its FRP pressure vessel systems. This will be the final hurdle to starting the global commercialization of Trans Ocean Gas. Most recently, Trans Ocean Gas made application to Transport Canada for a permit to transport CNG in refrigerated tractor trailer and inter-modal containers. A certification project is anticipated to be sanctioned this fall. The estimated cost of the planned road certification project is approximately $2 million. Based on past successes, significant government funding is anticipated for the road certification project; some granted, some conditionally repayable.