SulphCo: Stock sale gives it capital for three years

The $27 million that Sparks-based SulphCo raised in a private placement of its common stock last month will provide enough capital to keep the company afloat for more than three years at its current pace.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, the company said its monthly expenditures the rate at which it's burning through cash amounts to about $722,000 a month.

SulphCo executives said in the filing that the company doesn't expect to post any significant revenues on a sustained basis until at least the second quarter of this year.

The company lost $9.4 million last year and had an accumulated deficit of $31.7 million as of Dec. 31.

SulphCo has developed a technology that uses ultrasound to reduce sulfur in crude oil, making it easier to process.

The company has struck a deal with the government of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to install equipment capable of processing 210,000 barrels of oil a day.

The equipment, currently being manufactured in Germany, is scheduled to be operational in July. SulphCo will have a 50 percent stake in the profits and losses of the facility.

A demonstration unit, meanwhile, was installed in South Korea last year, and SulphCo said a final report is expected in May on tests conducted by the Korean owner of the plant.

Total France also is testing the technology.

While the company's expenses are running at $722,000 a month, SulphCo executives cautioned that more customer orders could push those costs up.

The company employs 24 people, 22 of them fulltime. It also pays $37,000 a month to lease 92,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space at 850 Spice Islands Drive.

Private investors last month purchased 4 million units - each unit composed of one share of SulphCo common stock and a warrant to purchase another share. The warrants can be exercised at $6.805 per share for 18 months.

The stock, which has ranged from $2.68 to $19.70 a share in the last 52 weeks, was trading at $8.78 on the American Stock Exchange last week.