Zach Bowman, CEO, Innoverse talks about the rise of Environmental Social Governance (ESG) in oil and gas at the PBIOS Podcast Party.
Below is the raw, unedited transcript from our artificial intelligence translator.
Jason Spiess
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Permian Basin International Oil show. This is the podcast party and we're actually on a remote location right now away from our booth, we're being joined by Zach Bowman. He's the ceo of in a verse. And how are you doing today sir? I'm doing well. Thank you. Jason Now in a verse that is a couple partial words I understand, but I've never seen it together in one whole word before. So let's talk about the name of the company and what it
Zach Bowman
does. So the way we came up with in a verse was we felt like what our solution uh comprised of innovative solutions for the oil and gas industry and for the the universe. So we combined the innovative and universe and came up with in a verse.
Jason Spiess
Great, alright, so you mentioned flaring, you mentioned emission management. So we have to go to the next question of the E S. G. And some of the other things that are happening now, you know, we've got these E. S. G task force that the sec has now got last March. They started. So a lot of the csg environmental, social governance has already started whether people know it or not. The actual top thing on the E. S. G list is flaring. A lot of people think it's planting trees because that's
the low hanging fruit meatless monday, let's have a recycling, you know, center in our cafeteria, that's like entry level stuff. What you've got is the main event, what the government wants to get a hold of right away, which is the flaring. And for me personally, I get the idea that it doesn't look good, but I'm more concerned about those mineral owners getting paid by the
Zach Bowman
way. Yeah, so that's an interesting comment there at the end there. So
Jason Spiess
uh
Zach Bowman
well, you know, with E. S. G. We we do see um the flaring at the top of the list, obviously why is that? Um you know, planting trees takes a long time, um stopping for sharing is an immediate visual component that you can actually see. That you can uh put your hands on and understand that when you stop the flaring, you're eliminating the emissions into the environment, which as we know, a lot of the politicians out there now today are focused on, you know, carbon capture C.
02. You hear those buzz buzz words a lot and you know, that's where we kind of fit into that dsg mold with our flare mitigation and our carbon capture, so that's that's what our focus is. Um and then you have the gas component, right? So there's several different ways, you know, you have, you have companies out there that are mining Bitcoin, um they're rigged up or or hooked up into gas pipelines, they're using they're using a ton of gas to run their supercomputers that that's not our
niche, that's not our market, our market is identifying spots in the Delaware basin the Permian basin the bach and the Eagle ford different areas that gas is stranded, there's nowhere for it to go. There's no takeaway or there's no sales line or there's too much gas in the line already. There's nowhere for it to go. So we want to rig up on those particular sites and rather than flaring it, we wanna put our flare mitigation, which then converts that gas into grid friendly
electricity. And, and I want to expound on that. We were not saying grid friendly in the manner that we're gonna go run your pump jack. Yes, we can do that. Our patent technology actually allows the power to go to the grid to power homes and businesses. Um, and I, and I can talk more about that.
I can tell you exactly the capacity of our units and what it means, You know, apples to apples for, for human beings, for businesses and for households and, and how that uh, kind of relates to real life running out of power supply. And in times like we had in texas last february,
Jason Spiess
let's talk a little bit about the different shale plays for a second and, and then we'll get to how you can keep the power on because you know, when I, when I look at the bacon and I look at, you know, it's a texas, whether it's a, we'll say Haynesville, those are two completely different shale plays. The bacon's got what's known as a wet gas where you got plantain, butane methane, all kinds of different eins in there and then you got dry gas, which really, really has a couple of
different gasses. So, and then you got temperature differences too. So like when I talk to the Bitcoin guys who are trying to, you know, figure out a mission management flaring solution, they can't do anything south of the mason Dixon line because it's just the temperatures are too hot.
Um, talk to me a little bit about the wet gas, dry gas with the different shale plays if that impacts you or affects you guys at all. And just some of the, you know, the obstacles that you're seeing, whether it's acceptance from the operators, whatever it might be.
Zach Bowman
Yeah, so good question. Um, you know, we're like, I think you probably know we're relatively new. So we had our soft launch was really yesterday. Um, we're currently rigged up in the Barnett shale. Um, so what the unique thing about the Barnett is, we're actually rigged up on four different on four different wells. Um, and in a certain amount of distance and we're piping that gas to ourselves.
So we see a wide range of gas now, is it comparable to what we'll see from the balkan down to the Delaware or to the Haynesville? Probably not. So, you know, one of the things about our technology is we're flexible and were able to adapt to that gas paul. He walked away, he's our cto, he has got it kind of dialed into where between our scrubbers and our pre patented technology um train system, we're actually able to use pretty much any gas that comes to us.
Um once we get that gas then it goes to our unit and then we're able to then send it to the, to the grid. Um the difference is, our technology is a little bit different from the turbine systems and the systems that are using massive amounts of gas that you're speaking of with, you know, the Bitcoin and the Cryptocurrency mining since we're doing a different application. So, so to answer your question, um as it stands, we we have to adapt um wet gas, dry gas, um noxious gas or H two s we have
to adapt to those different things and sometimes we will have to strip that out um and get the gas to where we need to be. Um we're currently in discussions with companies that are gonna help us on the liquid side to strip the liquids out and then feed the gas. Um but yeah, so, but but we really have no limitations with regard to the type of gas that we're feeding into our system. So
Jason Spiess
here we are, it's october right now, as we're speaking and for me, I like to say based on my observation of this industry october november december one or two of those months are kind of when they go and make their decisions or annual meetings and then they manage for the next 10 to 11 months. Those decisions that they make. Now, that doesn't mean they don't have some petty cash money or some, we'll see if we can't get a lower cost, you know, new New business thing going.
They do, they got some of that, but the majority like 90% rough numbers that's already taken care of. So they're managing things. What do you want those decision makers to know in the boardroom and the annual meetings that you can do for them? Because right now they have a lot of problems. They got problems from pr emission man, right left hook, uppercut down, you name it man, they got a lot of balls being thrown at
Zach Bowman
them. So that's a, that's a great point about the funding in the budget. So what we feel like where we fit and is, we're not going after pipeline gas. So what the decision makers that have issues with flaring that, that have, you know, 50 M. C. F a day to 250 M. C. F up to, you know, 500 to 750 M C F a day of flare gas on certain pad sites or on lease holds, we, we want to identify with those folks, we want to sit down with them and we want to go over our technology and show them that, that not only can
we reduce or eliminate their, their carbon uh, emissions, we can also potentially give them a benefit back whether that be running a pump jack or giving them part of the revenue stream from the electricity. Um, so what we also feel like E. S. G. S probably fits into a little bit different category than say drilling rigs, uh, frack crews. Um, you know, we have a couple different companies in the industry that our service industry oriented and we feel like E.
S. G fits in a little bit different. Is the money going to be completely gone? Uh Maybe not, but maybe a lot is gone, but what we want, decision makers and folks that are at the top that are charged with capturing the carbon, eliminating the flaring or the SD programs. We want to sit down with them and show us show that we want to show them the product that we have, the technology on their site to prove up to prove up what we have, what we say we can do and show them that not only is it a benefit
to the environment, but we can also potentially help their bottom line as well, which is, which is unique to the flare mitigation as itself and E. S. G. Most of the time it's gonna cost them a bunch of money? We want to show them, we might be able to help them mitigate the cost by offsetting it by giving them some of the revenues back.
Jason Spiess
Are there any regulations that you know about, that you guys are keeping an eye on that operators should be aware of? And, you know, we've had the texas Railroad commission on and we've had some other governing bodies and that sort of thing. And we've had, um, in fact, one of the leaders of the, uh, stripper wells, he's very concerned about the new, uh, U. A. V. And methane regulations that are coming in because these are costs that are going to be added to the smaller companies that
they just can't absorb because, you know, they're, they're used to under 50 barrels a day or something like that. So, you know, I'm not sure who your customer is directly if it's a big guys, little guys, anybody that can do this. But, you know, there are some realities coming in the world of regulations. And so I don't know if you're aware of any specific ones, but just talk to me about how you guys are dancing with that a little.
Zach Bowman
Yeah, so that's a good question as well. So with regard to the folks that have stripper wells and that, you know, they're running the smaller, um, smaller volume oil wells, shallow verticals. That's not really our target. Um, you know, they, I think that they're gonna be faced with a lot of texas Railroad commission regulatory, uh, legislation that's coming, um, it sounds like everyone's getting tied up on these, these, uh, you know, different regulatory agencies that are
really trying to put their foot down on making the environment in the world a better place to live in their eyes. So you know know that that's not really um I don't know a whole lot about that. Um We were targeting more, you know the folks that have an E. S. G. Message out there that are saying look our goal is to become net neutral. Our goal is to reduce these carbons.
Our goal is is to really implement an E. S. G. Program that's where we wanna be. We we want to be in front of those folks um Because those are the folks that actually know that the government's about to to to probably bring the hammer on them and we want to be out in front of it with them so we can make sure that they're compliant and you know, hopefully get them to the to their goals of being that neutral. You know, net neutral or or or eliminate the emissions from the from the flaring.
So um but as far as regulatory legislation Um I kind of know the same, probably that, you know, just just reading different articles saying that you know, by 2030 we're gonna have this this goal different folks, we're gonna force this, we're not gonna allow government back funding things like that. Um I think that that you know tax credits, I think that those are the things that we're reading across the board.
Jason Spiess
Yeah it's interesting because a lot of this regulation is so uncertain, but it's just, it just seems like that's the momentum the way it's going. And so it's very difficult. Like I say, it's hard, it's a difficult dance right now more than anything because it's almost moving ahead regardless.
It just keeps moving and moving ahead. And so I'm looking at your friend or your, your slogan here, a new alternative to natural gas flaring. Okay, so let's kind of conclude here a little bit and talk about what companies really need to know about a new alternative to natural gas flaring.
Zach Bowman
Yeah, as as mentioned, you know, I think that I think a lot of the majors, um, you know, your Chevron's your Exxon's your shell, your BP. Um, we, we had a discussion Saudi Aramco those type folks and I think they're out in front of it. They actually have E. S. G. Uh, they actually have an E. S. G. Teams that are that are tasked with finding alternatives to the flaring.
So that's exactly who I think needs to hear this now. You know, you have your, your mids out there, you know, you're devon energy, um, you know, Oxy pioneer, natural resources and those or other folks that, that have a lot of wells that are, that are being flared out and I think that those are also targets for us and those are folks that probably need to hear the message, whether it's us or someone else, you know like you said whether we like it or not it's coming So you might as well get
out in front of it and if whoever's out in front of it it's probably gonna be have the advantageous pricing um from you know from moving forward in the next 5 to 10 years, who knows what it's going to be and what the regulatory agencies are gonna slap on the folks that aren't compliant
Jason Spiess
the crude life. We have something called E. S. G. University and we go go around E. S. G. You we speak two different oil shows, we speak two different states, we speak to really anyone is listening that when it comes to E. S.
Zach Bowman
G. We
Jason Spiess
truly believe it's on the one yard line we've got 99 yards to go. But it's the first quarter and the refs haven't even brought the ball out or the rules to the game because if you go punch in E. S. G. Score there's public companies on yahoo finance that have E. S. G. Scores. The goal in the balls to actually put out an E. S. G. Score before. There's a criteria is unbelievable to me because I've gotten sued for less.
I mean that's absolutely incredible to me and when I looked at it I found 67 different websites that have E. S. G. Scores and they're all the same. So that means one guy did it or girl or organization and 66 people copied it. So what I'm telling the industry right now get your own E. S. G. Score going, get it out there, get in front of the narrative because the sec has a task force, the game has already started companies and economies are already being impacted.
So if you want to sit around and talk about it and complain about how it shouldn't be there, that's fine. But for some of us we want to make sure that severe is not the word, but maybe needs improvement is or puppies and kittens, they're even choosing negative language in there. So even all the way to the language, we got to get a hold of the narrative. Alright, I'm gonna step down now off my oil drum, otherwise known as a soapbox.
And we'll just kind of conclude with that. But I do want to mention um that you mentioned soft launch. So let's give you another opportunity to let people know how they can get more information on you, how they can access your website, your social media, whatever it might be. How can people get in touch with you.
Zach Bowman
Okay, so our website is www dot in A verse tech dot com. Just like it sounds my name is Zach Bowman. I'm the Ceo. And if you need any information you can also email me at Z Bowman at dot com and yeah this is our soft launch and we're ready to
Jason Spiess
roll and from what I've heard and gathered as the journalist I am, you guys have got some activity going down here in texas. But it sounds to me like you've got talks worldwide including Saudi Aramco, which is the largest company in the world in terms of oil reserves and supplies and that sort of thing. And that is the next step is the international world really is.
Zach Bowman
Yes. Uh, and from the get go, we've always been focused worldwide. We, we knew that this wasn't gonna be, you know, limited to just the lower 48 we're ready to go. We're ready to go. Um, you know, across the, across the ocean if we need to, because we feel like this is gonna be a benefit to a lot of those grid star locations. Well
Jason Spiess
this whole movement is, is global and it's starting in America like most things do right. And so we're gonna keep moving and moving and moving at the crude life. We actually my morning show host and we did the morning show grew up in Dhahran Saudi Arabia and he's part of the Aramco brats network.
And that was specifically why we brought him in was to open our doors to Aramco. Absolutely. Because we saw next year, if you're not doing international oil, you're probably a step behind buddy.
Zach Bowman
I'm with you. 100% I'm with you. We're ready to go
Jason Spiess
And that website one more time
Zach Bowman
it's www dot dot com. I n n O v e r S e t e c h dot com.
Jason Spiess
Zack Bowman. Thank you very much. We'll make sure we have the links available at the crude life as well on this show page, folks, that's gonna do it. My name is Jason space. We are here remote on location at the intro verse booth here at the Permian Basin International Oil Show. Part of the podcast party brought to you by the wire line group.
The Crude Life Podcast: Zach Bowman, Innoverse