productivity commission says..., page-34

Because Sasol do it with above-ground gasification where they can control the gasifier conditions exactly and thus control the quality of the output syngas.

Sasol's process has not really been terribly economic which is why the only countries that have done it on a large scale have been those under oil embargos (Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa).

If Linc were digging up their coal first, the technology would just be commercial off-the-shelf. But nobody has ever produced commercial amounts of synfuels from coal via UCG before, Linc is the first company to really attempt it. In theory it should be possible because UCG produces syngas the same as that produced by above-ground gasification.

But in reality we're still waiting to see evidence that it works on a commercial scale. For some reason PB has chosen not to release any info on gas production rates, gas composition or GTL efficiency. All we know is they have apparently produced a few hundred litres of diesel in several years of operation.

In the meantime, he's been spruiking every other single aspect of the company from coal sales to oilfield purchases to drilling campaigns. It just raises a few eyebrows as to why.

Personally I don't know what to think. Some production data would go a long way towards easing concerns. Even a statement saying "this stuff isn't working as well as we hoped but we're working on it until we get it right" would be good.

Alternatively "this is working 100% according to plan" would be even better, but I have to wonder why, given PB's obvious interest in publicity, he wouldn't be shouting it from the rooftops if it were the case.