Revolutionary New Water-Saving Technique Gives Oil and Gas a New ‘Green Look’ in Rockies

 Altela, Inc. Turns Energy Industry Wastewater into New Water Source in the

                                 Arid West



    RIFLE, Colo., July 17 /EMWNews/ -- Two companies working together

have perfected a method of turning wastewater from oil and gas wells into

distilled water that can be used for agriculture, or to vastly reduce the

environmental footprint the oil and gas industry has on the land.



    Across the western United States alone, more than five billion gallons

per day of brackish wastewater, known as produced water, is brought to the

surface during oil and gas production. This wastewater has historically

been re-injected deep back into the ground where it came from, never to be

used again, and it must be hauled away at great cost over long trucking

distances. With this new revolutionary water-saving technique, the brackish

water can be purified on the site and used beneficially. Turning this

wastewater into usable water benefits farmers, ranchers, and communities

across the water-starved western United States and helps address the

country's water and energy security.



    "We have created a new water source for the arid west," said Altela CEO

Ned Godshall. "This new system could create up to five billion gallons of

water per day of safe, usable distilled water for our communities and our

farms."



    Altela, Inc., in cooperation with Laramie Energy II, LLC, produced and

released 7,000 gallons of clean distilled water, purer than drinking water,

from their treatment system into the Colorado River near Rifle CO for the

first time on July 3rd. In many domestic wells, for every barrel of oil or

gas brought from within the earth, over nine barrels of brackish water must

be hauled away or re-injected into the earth. This new source of potable

water comes from Altela's treatment of the water at the wellhead. That

water can then be used for agriculture or for further energy extraction.



    In addition, new oil and gas techniques use large amounts of water

under pressure to extract the oil and gas from underground. Currently, that

water must be hauled onto the site, using precious water resources and

requiring roads and trucks to bring the water in. Now that water can be

cleaned at the site and used for pressure extraction, thereby bypassing the

need for trucks of clean water from other sites.



    "The oil and gas industry can dramatically reduce its carbon footprint

by doing away with most water trucks and road travel in our pristine

wilderness," said Godshall. "We can now use on-site water that's purified

to do the pressure extraction. This will help us find and extract new

energy resources while protecting our natural resources."



    Altela's ARS-4000 system removes all contaminates from the water

co-produced with natural gas production. Altela and Laramie Energy received

precedent-setting environmental regulatory approval to discharge and

beneficially re-use clean, treated frac and produced water from the

patented AltelaRain(SM) system for irrigation, commercial and industrial

uses, including discharging into the Colorado River Basin for valuable

in-stream flow rights.



    Laramie Energy's President, Bruce Payne, states, "Our collaboration

with the Altela team and its revolutionary technology represents a unique

and compelling opportunity to lower our costs of produced water handling

and disposal while creating a new source of clean water in the arid west in

support of responsible energy production." Bob Hea, V.P. of Laramie Energy,

said, "Altela has demonstrated its ability to turn frac water and brackish

produced water into clean distilled water. This clean water meets standards

for re-use, which increases environmental efficiency of natural gas

production by limiting the amount of produced water having to be disposed

of as waste. In addition, by treating our water at the well-site, we are

able to reduce the amount of trucking typically associated with hauling

this waste product away, which is a huge benefit to area residents."



    "We are excited about our successful venture with Laramie Energy," said

Godshall. "Laramie Energy is visionary in its commitment to environmentally

sustainable energy production and we are honored to be their partner in

reducing production waste handling costs while creating a new valuable

water asset in the over-appropriated Colorado River Basin. Rarely does such

a win-win solution exist."

    About Laramie Energy II, LLC (http://www.laramie-energy.com)



    Laramie Energy II, LLC is a Denver-based company primarily focused on

finding and developing natural gas reserves from unconventional gas

reservoirs within the U.S. Rockies. Laramie Energy is backed by over $300

million of equity capital commitments funded by the Company's management

team, EnCap Investments, Avista Capital, and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners

(an affiliate of Credit Suisse Securities). In addition, Laramie Energy is

debt financed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, BNP Paribas, and Wells Fargo Bank.



    About Altela, Inc. (http://www.altelainc.com)



    Altela, Inc. manufactures and services water treatment systems for the

oil & gas industry based on a fundamentally different water

desalination/decontamination solution inspired by nature itself. Through

the use of its proprietary, patented AltelaRain(SM) technology, Altela

desalinates and decontaminates highly challenged water without the energy

intensive equipment, pressure or high temperatures of other water

desalination technologies -- representing the first new low-cost water

desalination technology in the last 50 years. The company has assembled a

strong intellectual property position, experienced management team, and

strategic partners. By removing all contaminants from highly-challenged E&P

wastewater and brackish water, Altela converts these contaminated water

liabilities into clean water assets, thereby removing our customer's

environmental liability and high treatment/disposal costs.