BOSTON, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- General Synfuels International (GSI) - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Earth Search Sciences, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: ESSE) - today announced the company has secured an exploration agreement for lands in Wyoming and rights to a separate oil shale resource opportunity in Colorado. Collectively, the agreements will allow the company to test and develop the company's patented technology to recover hydrocarbons from oil shale, oil sands and heavy oil using its patented process that prioritizes environmental sensitivity.

The exploration agreement with a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in Wyoming covers approximately 160 acres near Rock Springs on a Union Pacific Railroad section upon which GSI plans to carry out its proof-of-concept test under stringent environmental guidelines.

The Colorado opportunity provides GSI access to approximately 500 acres of private, oil-shale-rich land in the Piceance Basin, with the potential - based upon core analysis and geologic data - to recover approximately 700 million barrels of oil, or oil equivalents, in the near term. GSI believes results should be known within the next 24 months. The company is also evaluating an additional 2,500 acres of oil shale mineral rights in the same area of Colorado and is in the process of investigating how many barrels of oil are in place.

"With oil prices at the levels we see today - between $40 and $50 per barrel - our expected production costs will be highly competitive and should result in substantial returns to our investors and shareholders, and result in a economically-viable source of domestic oil," said Luis Lugo, CEO of Earth Search Sciences, Inc.

"This agreement gives GSI access to oil shale-rich land for our proof-of-concept development," said Lugo. "The property is optimal for an R&D project because of its proximity to existing infrastructure, transportation and access to a highly-qualified workforce."

The breakthrough technology - an environmentally low-impact and energy-self-sustainable gasification process - has the potential to drastically reduce production costs for oil production compared to conventional development methods and to greatly decrease the nation's dependency on foreign oil.

"The agreements enable us to move forward with a proof-of- concept prototype for our in-situ gasification technology and deliver a strong capital impetus for our commercial development phase," said Larry Vance, Chairman of Earth Search Sciences.