Gamble of the week: An innovative oil tech

This clever little tech stock has impressed some big oilers with its ground-penetrating technology. But it's not without risk, says Paul Hill.

Wildcat drilling is risky typically two out of every three wells are dry and each one can cost millions to drill. So any method that can improve this hit rate will be valuable to the oil and gas sector. ViaLogy's patented seismic QuantumRD system, originally developed at Nasa in the 1990s, offers to do just that.

Conventional seismic methods used by geophysicists aim to filter out noise to 'clean' the wave signals emitted from underground rock formations. But QuantumRD employs super-sensitive technology to search for anomalies in this discarded noise. This lets explorers pinpoint the exact location of deposits, determine rock porosity and gauge the percentage of oil to water.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.