HOUSTON and KEMAH, Texas, Sept. 14, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American International Industries, Inc. (OTCBB:AMIN) ("American") today announced that Subsea Oil Technologies, Inc., ("Subsea"), a company that is 50% owned by American, has begun offering its patent-pending solutions to government (e.g., the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)), educational and private institutions for containing deepwater oil rig blowouts. Subsea, a Nevada corporation, was organized for the purpose of designing, testing and producing efficient, high quality and fully operational, safety and emergency equipment for the undersea oil and gas industries. Additional details regarding Subsea and its solutions are presented at Subsea's newly established website, http://www.subseaoiltech.com.
On September 2, 2010, we were again reminded about the dangers and potential ecological/environmental risks involved with offshore oil and gas development, when the Vermillion Block 380 Mariner Energy oil platform caught fire off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. This serves as a warning to industry and government agencies to be prepared for the potential of oil spill calamities at any time. Unlike the explosion that led to the massive 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which continued over a period of several months while waiting for a relief well to be drilled, we were lucky that a significant oil spill did not occur this time, and that there was no loss of life.
As previously announced, Subsea has established an on-going program to build an intellectual property (IP) portfolio of patent applications directed towards expediting the containment of undersea oil and/or gas spills, at least until a relief well can be drilled. As Subsea begins to explore various market and licensing opportunities, Subsea will continue to expand and enhance the value of its IP portfolio. The patent applications disclose numerous procedures and apparatus configurations associated with the "BOPstopper", a solution that could have prevented the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico from becoming the worst ecological disaster ever.
In one configuration, the BOPstopper is a "caisson" assembly that substantially isolates a defective blowout preventer (BOP) stack that spews oil and/or gas from the ocean by completely circumventing and encasing the defective BOP stack. The BOPstopper may comprise two separate assemblies: a containment assembly, that creates a seal with the seabed, and a valve assembly that controls the flow of the spewing oil and/or gas. Each of these two BOPstopper assemblies is individually reinforced to withstand the high pressure of the spewing oil and/or gas after being submerged and positioned at the bottom of the ocean.
A BOP stack is the last line of defense when a catastrophe strikes an undersea oil well. Current offshore oil exploration has reached new limits that obviously have not been studied nor tested sufficiently for disaster recovery procedures and equipment. Subsea's development program will consider current and future requirements of subsea seismography, simulation, drilling, construction, production, measurement, control, safety and disaster recovery systems.
American International Industries, Inc. is a diversified holding company, with a business model similar to General Electric, Tyco International, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Company has holdings in Industry, Finance and Oil & Gas, and has a significant Real Estate portfolio, all in Houston, TX and its surrounding areas. The vision of the Company is to further develop holdings in its core industries and plans to expand its interests in the energy sector through acquisition of existing companies, applying the financial resources and management expertise to foster the growth and profitability of the acquired businesses. The holding company serves as a financial and professional partner to the management of the subsidiaries. The role of the holding company is to improve each subsidiary's access to capital, achieve economies of scale by consolidating administrative functions, and utilize the financial and management expertise of corporate personnel across all units. The Company is continuing to work with management of the subsidiary companies to improve revenues, operations and profitability.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of the Company's future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act, and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Any statements made in this news release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that we may anticipate in each of our segments reflected by our subsidiaries' operations include, among others:, continued value of our real estate portfolio; the strength of the real estate market in Houston, Texas as a whole; the ability to expand its interests in the energy sector; increased levels of competition; the dependence upon financing, the rules of regulatory authorities and risks associated with any potential acquisitions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of the Company, its divisions and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by the Company.