Linc Energy Expects to Start Clean Diesel Plant by End of...

Linc Energy Expects to Start Clean Diesel Plant by End of Month

By Angela Macdonald-Smith
Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Linc Energy Ltd., the Australian company building a project in
Queensland to convert coal into clean diesel, expects to start up the fuels plant by the
end of the month, said Managing Director Peter Bond.

The demonstration plant, producing about 10 barrels a day of synthetic diesel, will be
followed by a larger, A$850 million ($746 million) project, which may start up in early
2011, Bond said in an interview today in Sydney. The full-scale plant will produce about
20,000 barrels a day, he said.

Brisbane-based Linc's project involves the underground conversion of coal into a
synthetic gas, which is extracted to the surface for processing into diesel. Using the
underground coal gasification process reduces the volume of greenhouse gases emitted
compared with conventional coal-to-liquids plants, the company says.

``Coal-to-liquids has got a huge future in Australia, China, India and North America,''
Bond said. ``Anyone who is coal-rich and energy-hungry is going to want to do it.''

Linc has an agreement with BP Plc's Australian unit, which will buy the diesel.

Linc, which has more than quadrupled in Sydney trading in the past six months, today slid 12
cents, or 4 percent, to A$2.92 on the Australian stock exchange. The company doesn't
anticipate that overlapping licenses with Queensland Gas Corp. will upset its project
plans, Bond said.