Cougar Energy announces 2012 work program
Thursday, January 12 2012 - 08:23 AM WIB
ASX-listed Cougar Energy Ltd announced its work program for 2012 following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with mining company PT Medco Energi Mining Internasional, a subsidiary of PT Medco Energi Tbk in late November 2011.
The program will include a technical evaluation of data from a number of coal areas with the potential for the establishment of an initial project, an initial assessment of potential end product uses (such as power, synthetic natural gas, fertilizers and diesel), Cougar announced in a media statement.
The work program will also include seeking the Indonesian government and its agencies? endorsement to establish the appropriate Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology in Indonesia.
Cougar Energy and PT Medco Energi Mining have agreed to assess and identify coal deposits in Indonesia suitable for application of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology. Both companies will undertake a preliminary study for the commercial development of the UCG project, the first of such project in Indonesia.
Medco Energi Mining has a range of energy interests including domestic and international oil and gas operations, power generation and the development of downstream industries. Medco Energi Mining shares with Cougar Energy the goal of bringing the UCG industry into the mainstream of energy supply in Indonesia, Cougar has said.
Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an industrial process, which converts coal into product gas, which is similar to coal bed methane (CBM). They are different in the technology and mechanism in converting the coal into gas.
In CBM project, groundwater is pumped to the land surface in order for gas to be extracted using coal seam gas techniques. CBM requires lowering groundwater pressure in order to stimulate gas flow.
UCG is an in-situ gasification process carried out in non-mined coal seams using injection of oxidants, and bringing the product gas to surface through production wells drilled from the surface.
Editing by Roffie Kurniawan