I try not to ever fall in love with a deal. Sure, I am always on the hunt for a good concept, a strongly built company or an avante garde product. But if you would have asked me a few months ago if my favorite company would soon be an HVAC company servicing industrial plants, I would have laughed it off and continued on my merry way to my next "sexy" investment. And you know what? I would have had to eat my words!

Ok, so I will be the first to admit that Marmion Industries Inc. (OTCBB: MMIO) is not exactly glamorous. Sure they don't have a new drug that cures the common cold or a chip that will make cell phones stop dropping calls. But that is not to say that they are not revolutionizing the industry they are in. Not to mention the fact that, for a company that logged only $4.6M in 2006 revenues, the announcement of more than $6M worth of business over just the past few weeks and a sale for a ConocoPhillips project is pretty "sexy" if you ask me! And I don't seem to be the only investor who thinks so.

The Market is Warmed Up

Investors warmly embraced the ConocoPhillips release on Tuesday. MMIO traded more than 10,000,000 shares, hitting an intra-day high of $.032 for a 100% increase before settling at a nearly 60% gain at market close. In Wednesday's trading, MMIO gave back 20% of the prior day's gains on lighter, but nonetheless impressive, trading volume of 1.8 million shares.

In addition to the big news earlier this week, today's announcement and the positive string of corporate communications that precluded the Conoco release should more favorably position Marmion in the rapidly expanding petrochemical industry as they enhance the company's footprint in the domestic market.

Big Facilities for a BIG Market

After all, it is the company's recent growth and future prospects that have created the need for the acquisition of 2.75 acres of property in order to build a new 31,500 square foot manufacturing facility. The new Marmion compound will greatly increase the company's production capabilities while acting as their international sales office and overall home base. If this isn't a prime indicator that business is booming than I don't know what is.

With the International Energy Agency forecasting the oil and gas sector to shell out more than $8 trillion in investment between 2005 and 2030, it doesn't hurt that Marmion is a well-entrenched and well-credentialed local supplier in Texas. Texas is the top petroleum refining state in the U.S. Currently producing more than 4,241,000 barrels per day, it will absolutely be looked towards in the future to help fuel the country's growing hunger for energy. If nothing else, they don't have to go too far outside their front door to pursue some of the most lucrative opportunities in the entire world.

Who is ConocoPhillips?


At this point in time, I can't think of many better end-users for Marmion's products than ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP).

Esteemed in the Petrochemical world as a technology leader, the company is America's third- largest integrated oil and gas company.

With close to 33,000 employees worldwide spread across more than 40 countries, of all non-government controlled organizations, ConocoPhillips is the fifth-largest global refinery based on crude oil capacity and owns the sixth-largest total of proved oil & gas reserves in the world.

Adoption of Marmion products by Conoco is a direct validation of their technology. If Marmion's products are good enough for a top-three oil & gas company, they're surely good enough for the country's 149 currently operable petroleum refineries (EIA data). As the industry takes notice of Marmion's ongoing progress, one would think that this should have nothing but a positive impact on sales going forward.

U.S. Oil & Gas Industry In the Midst of Rapid Development

The ongoing development occurring in the U.S. oil and gas space is highlighted in part by the recently announced $7 billion Motiva Enterprises refining joint venture between Shell and Saudi Aramco.

The deal is focused on expanding capacity at a refinery in Port Arthur, TX that will make it the largest in the U.S. Another example of the massive expansion in the market is Sinclair Oil Corp's recent decision to expend $1billion to enhance its Tulsa refinery and expand capacity by 60%. These are both regional deals that MMIO could potentially target with its products, but more importantly it represents the growing pool of opportunity that the company will have the benefit of targeting going forward.

The massive need for infrastructure enhancement and products such as those offered by Marmion is quite evident. Set aside all else but the fact that the EIA is predicting a 40% increase in global energy usage by 2030. It is also forecasting use of liquid fuel energy sources - which the agency estimates to make up more than ½ of total delivered energy use - to continue to grow in a relatively rapid manner as the world's population, incomes and domestic outputs grow.

To say that interest in MMIO has been brewing over the past few days would be a drastic understatement. Market volume has surged and news from the company keeps getting hotter. With this morning's press release, we foresee another positive day for MMIO trading. Rest assured, we (obviously along with countless others) will be following this one very closely over the next few weeks. Check back for more coverage on company news, trading volume and stock price.

Labels: ConocoPhillips, Marmion Industries, Marmion Industries Corp., MMIO, Saudi Aramco, Shell