Phoenix plans to expand its current and future Synfuel™ research and development activities by further strengthening its collaboration with a senior research team in the University of Ottawa Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.

In recognition of the significant growth opportunity associated with the clean transportation fuel marketplace, Phoenix Canada Oil Company Limited is creating a new business unit to aggressively pursue intellectual property development in its synthetic hydrocarbon Synfuel™ technology. Phoenix plans to expand its current and future Synfuel™ research and development activities by further strengthening its collaboration with a senior research team in the University of Ottawa Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.

As part of this transition, the new business unit, "Synfuel™ R&D," will be formed effective 09 September 2013. This business unit will integrate and formalize the existing R&D activities of its Reaction Engineering program, which is focused on RWGS (Reverse Water Gas Shift) reactor development; its Catalysis and Supports division, which is focused on catalyst and support development; and its Separation and Recycling Effort, which is focused on downstream reactor separation of products from reactants. This operating consolidation will continue through the remainder of 2013 to mid 2014 -- leveraging the collaborative efforts of each of the separate business teams to ensure a seamless migration for Phoenix, its shareholders, and its R&D stakeholders.

"The creation of the Synfuel™ R&D unit will allow us to take a more integrated, solutions-oriented approach to pursuing these important and exciting intellectual property development activities, and leveraging the Phoenix resources and expertise in a unified and focused manner," said S. Donald Moore, President and CEO of Phoenix. "Consolidating and formalizing our Synfuel™ R&D division signals our ongoing commitment to a research collaboration program with the highly experienced research team at University of Ottawa. This program has, in its first three years, produced highly encouraging results that will provide strong intellectual property development potential. We are very pleased to have assembled a truly innovative, creative and motivated research team. Having achieved these productive results, we now plan to establish these programs on an ongoing basis, and signal to our academic partners and government funding agencies our strong desire to continue working with them to build on these important results."

The new business unit will be located at 71 Bank Street, 6th floor, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5N2 which will provide physical space for student researchers from the University of Ottawa to receive critical training in the business goals of industrial R&D.

Phoenix's new Synfuel™ R&D unit will be led by Steve Aplin, who has been Phoenix's point-man in planning, launching, and managing the collaborations with the academic research team. "I am very pleased that we are continuing and expanding this program," said Aplin. "The sheer potential of the Synfuel™ market cannot be overstated, and Phoenix-through farsighted and aggressive intellectual property development-is in an excellent position to be the premier innovator in this space. The University of Ottawa researchers are top-notch, committed and professional and I believe that the match with Phoenix is destined for ultimate commercial success."