Profero Energy Inc. is a Calgary-based oil and gas technology company founded in 2007. Its proprietary technology is based on leading biodegradation research from researchers at the University of Newcastle and the University of Calgary. Profero’s technologies are designed to recover additional energy assets from existing heavy oil wells that are no longer economically viable.

Currently, many heavy oil companies are forced to abandon production wells with 80-90 per cent of the assets still in the ground. Profero technologies are designed to recover additional heavy oil and gas assets from wells no longer producing an economically viable product. This is achieved by accelerating and controlling the natural biodegradation of complex hydrocarbons into methane and/or hydrogen. The key element of the technologies is a deep understanding of biodegradation of oil into methane as it occurs naturally in reservoirs. By removing rate-limiting factors and accelerating these natural processes, coupled with advanced optimised recovery processes, methane can be recovered in an economically viable time frame. Anticipated advantages of this process, in addition to extracting additional resources from currently unproductive wells, are its minimal environmental impacts including its use of existing well infrastructure sites, and the recovery of a cleaner source of fuel – methane.