Cougar Energy’s business is the development of commercial projects using Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology to produce a gas suitable for use as a fuel for power generation or the production of petrochemical products.

UCG technology has been in continuous use to generate power for nearly 50 years in the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Research and development commenced in the 1930’s and continued aggressively until the 1960’s when large reserves of natural gas were found. The Western world however, has displayed only intermittent interest in UCG, with the most intense activity taking place in the US under government sponsorship in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It is estimated that some 20 million tonnes of coal were gasified in the FSU, compared to a combined total of less than 100,000 tonnes elsewhere.

Cougar’s Managing Director, Dr Len Walker, has actively pursued an interest in UCG since 1982. Following three visits to the then operating UCG facility at Angren in Uzbekistan in the mid 1990’s, he formed an association with Dr Michael Blinderman from Canadian company Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc. Together they initiated and conducted the longest and most successful UCG test burn yet undertaken in the Western world between 1999 and 2002 at Chinchilla in South East Queensland. The test gasified more than 30,000 tonnes of coal and met all required environmental standards.

Largely as a result of the Chinchilla trial, there is now an international awareness of the technology, with projects commencing or being planned in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, China, Canada and the USA.

Dr Walker maintains a close working relationship with Ergo Exergy, now widely regarded as the world leaders in UCG technology, and is now positioning Cougar to commercially exploit the technology through UCG power generation and gas to liquids projects in Australia, Europe and Asia at a time when clean coal technology is in great demand across the globe.

Follow the UCG link above to find out more about the technology and Cougar’s plans to develop new UCG projects in Australia, Europe and Asia.