ConocoPhillips, one of the largest integrated energy companies in the United States, will fund the evaluation, to be carried out mainly at ConocoPhillips's Bartlesville Technology Centre in Oklahoma.

Biosignal will supply the active compounds for the evaluation and conduct some trials at its own facilities in cooperation with ConocoPhillips over the next six months.

Biosignal already has non-exclusive evaluation deals with Australian giants BHP Billiton and Santos to test the company's anti-biofilm compounds for use in oil and gas pipelines, and associated pumping machinery.

Several successful trials carried out last year showed Biosignal's anti-biofilm agents could substantially remove corrosion-causing bacterial biofilms that are a major problem for the oil and gas industry.

The company said in January that the results from British testing show its anti-biofilm compounds have substantially outperformed the industry standard product glutaraldehyde in reducing the presence of harmful sulphur-reducing bacteria (SRB) in simulated oil and gas pipeline conditions.

Biosignal's agreement to transfer ownership of its anti-corrosion technology to an American entrepreneur fell apart after failing to complete negotiations based on two memoranda of understanding that were signed in March 2008 and extended to June.