swan hills synfuels

Another increasingly frequent UCG article caught my attention.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/commentary/neil-reynolds/coal-is-the-future-and-alberta-is-the-laboratory/article1874894/

Even though the location (Alberta, Canada) is interesting, it was the company's website that caught my attention for 2 reasons.

First reason - Coil tubing unit

Who thinks that LNC is the only UCG company out there to be using a Coil Tubing Unit (at least at the time when they announced it)?

If you read the LNC ASX announcement from 24-Sep-10 you will see the following comment:

"As referred to in ASX announcement 'Linc Energy's Coil Tubing Unit Arrives at the Chinchilla Demonstration Facility' on 27 July 2010, Linc Energy has introduced coil tubing unit equipment to UCG, and remains the only company to do so in the world."

In addition Justyn Peters in the 28-Oct-10 Adelaide Limelight series, reconfirms "nobody else has been able to do" (referring to the coil tubing unit). Some rather impressive comments, don't you think?

If you go to http://www.swanhills-synfuels.com/projects_demonstration.htm you will see some interesting details. The Swan Hills website demo project completed in July 2009 also uses a retractable coiled tubing unit, there are even photos.

I am no engineer and I have no idea what a coiled tubing unit is so I can't really determine the significance, but, if the introduction of this unit doubles the flow of gas it sounds pretty significant.


Second reason ? Controlled UCG burn

Is LNC the only UCG company that can demonstrate the ability to control a UCG burn? Justyn Peters during the 28-Oct-10 Adelaide Limelight series states:

"we (LNC) are the only company that demonstrate that (controlled UCG burn)"

If you refer back to Swan Hills website you will see that they list in the technical achievements:

"Ability to control shutdown and restart capabilities of the gasification process."


So, a simpleton like myself has been able to discover 2 recent claims made by LNC that seem to be false. I would expect LNC to know who is doing what. I don't like the fact that LNC is making market sensitive announcements which are not entirely true. I consider this to be an embarrassment for LNC and makes me fear that LNC think they are further ahead of the UCG game than they actually are. If you follow the news on UCG you will see articles nearly every day on the technology. You will also know that as of late 2010, there were at least 2 UCG commercial operations in the world, LNC has lost its crown as the only UCG commercial operation in the world. Reading the UCG news, you will also know that China, India, Pakistan and many other countries are pursuing UCG and the pursuits are become more aggressive. Is LNC a follower or a leader in UCG? I don't know and I am not sure it matters, I just hope they know where they sit in the UCG space. If UCG is as good as it sounds, mediocrity will still make you money.