On Thursday 4 December 2008, OriginOil was featured on the prime-time news program ‘Fox Money for Business’.

CEO Riggs Eckelberry discusses the prospects for algae as a fuel, as the administration promises a new energy economy and oil prices fall.

Transcript

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX BUSINESS CONTRIBUTOR Thanks a lot, Alexis.

Well, you know, Americans are falling in love with oil again as prices continue to drop. Right now crude is about $45 a barrel. And yesterday saw its lowest (INAUDIBLE) price since May of 2005.

Eventually, though, oil wells will dry up and Americans will be left to figure out how to feed their energy addictions.

Our next guest’s company is working to break that oil addiction by going green. Riggs Eckelberry, president and CEO of OriginOil — I like that name — joins us now.

Good morning, Riggs. First of all, tell us a little bit about your company because it’s a different type of alternative energy.

RIGGS ECKELBERRY, ORIGINOIL PRESIDENT AND CEO Good morning, Charles. Yes. OriginOil is in the business of delivering a breakthrough technology to turn algae into oil. You know, it’s easy to make a little bit of algae. It’s hard to make a whole lot.

PAYNE Right. Now these prices are coming down so dramatically. It’s had a lot of people worried that Americans are going to forget about the high prices of oil and then a lot of alternative plans or alternative choices like yours are just going to be dismissed.

What does it mean for the economy and more specifically for your company?

ECKELBERRY Well, you know, the falling prices are a perfect storm for oil. Remember there’s also a credit crisis. So what they’re doing, these producing countries are offering [operating] below their breakevens. The drilling is stopping because they don’t have the money to do it. And so oil is actually pulling back when they actually should be investing.

When the economy roars back, oil will not have the capacity and we’ll see oil spikes again very soon.

PAYNE But right now, though, for instance, you’re a development stage company.

ECKELBERRY Sure.

PAYNE This summer I had the opportunity to meet Robert Metcalf, the founder of the Internet.

ECKELBERRY Sure.

PAYNE He’s working on an algae project that is out of this world. You guys need to talk, by the way. But from what I understand, there’s 30,000 types of algae. I mean, obviously, you have to raise money in this environment and people have to see that sense of urgency.

Do you think Americans are going to forget about this?

ECKELBERRY We’re in the innovation [stage] in alternative energy, and not just in algae. And so innovation, as long as we can — is relatively cheap. We don’t need billions just yet. We just need to get the solutions together. And we’re not fighting at the pump yet.

So I think our opportunity is to develop the technology so they’re winners and then we’ll be able to fight it out with petroleum.

PAYNE And how hopeful are you that the next administration is going to create this sort of opportunities that will make your job a lot easier?

ECKELBERRY We’ve already seen happening. The plans are well underway. We’re talking to government and academic institutions. And I think we’re going to see a lot of help from the administration.

PAYNE Now Riggs, your company just went public this year. It’s a relatively small stock. It’s actually hung in there pretty good, all things considered. What are you doing to make people more aware of your company?

ECKELBERRY Well, of course, we’re showing up on the FOX show.

PAYNE Right.

ECKELBERRY We’re doing a lot of education. We — we simply are telling people about our research as it goes on. There’s milestones of technology that are announced regularly. And we’re simply getting it right.

Vinod Khosla, the long-time VC entrepreneur, said listen, don’t rush out with your technology. Get it right. And that’s what we’re doing.

PAYNE And how hopeful are you that Americans don’t revert back to their bad habits in the meantime? You know we’re seeing gas now under $2 a gallon. You know, you think we’re going to shift back to the SUVs, and just the average person out there is going to forget about what we saw this summer?

ECKELBERRY I don’t think people have the money to indulge in gasoline even at 2 bucks. So I think that the people understand that there’s a short-term respite, that they can get their budget together with a slightly smaller gas bill, but really work on saving money for the future.

PAYNE Well, listen, I got to tell you, I’m excited about it. I was excited about it when I learned about it this summer. Congratulations and much success.

ECKELBERRY Thank you, Charles.