High Cost of Oil Driving Up Interest in Oil Skimming Equipment

Cleveland, OH, June 6, 2006 – Record high oil prices are causing manufacturers to seek profitable ways to extract oil from their wastewater, according to the leading U.S. supplier of oil skimming equipment.

Abanaki Corporation has seen an increase in interest in oil skimmers, which recover oil from plant wash water, machine shop coolant, and contaminated groundwater. Manufacturers can sell recovered oil to a recycler or burn the oil to lower heating bills.

Since June 2005, when crude oil prices soared past $60 per barrel and gasoline prices topped $2 per gallon, requests for skimmers to be used for oil recycling have increased 25 percent, the company reported.

"Experts are looking at the increasing demand for oil in Asia and cautioning that prices could stabilize at $100 per barrel for crude oil," said Abanaki president Tom Hobson. "With this outlook, companies are now thinking about the profitability of oil recovery."

Oil skimming uses the difference in specific gravity and surface tension between oil and water to pick up oil, grease and other hydrocarbon liquids as a belt passes through the water. It is a cost-effective means of cleaning industrial waste water prior to disposal or discharge.

"In the past, manufacturers have been motivated either by regulatory compliance or by a desire to reduce disposal costs," Hobson said. "Now the industry is shifting from a focus on reducing cost to a focus on realizing profit hidden in waste water."

Oil skimming is the lowest cost way to remove oil from water. Abanaki's Model 8 Oil Grabber has a low maintenance design and removes up to 40 gallons of oil per hour. When combined with an oil concentrator, water in the reclaimed oil can be reduced to as little as one percent.

Please contact Abanaki Corporation for additional information. Email us at skimmers@abanaki.com, call 1-800-358-SKIM (7546). Visit our web page at www.abanaki.com/031.

About Abanaki Corporation: Abanaki, the world leader in oil skimmer products, manufactures a wide range of products to remove oils, greases, solvents, and related hydrocarbons from water. Skimmer models are available with removal rates ranging from 1 to 200 gallons per hour in both stationary and portable systems. Use of Abanaki equipment often allows water, oil and coolant to be recycled, thus avoiding contingent liabilities and costs associated with disposal. Besides off-the-shelf oil and grease skimmers, Abanaki supplies custom designed (turnkey) pollution control systems for a wide variety of applications. Headquartered in Cleveland Ohio, Abanaki has served a global customer base in industries as diverse as iron and steel, wastewater, paper, food processing, automotive, environmental remediation, and recycling for more than 30 years.