HOME PAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS, Print Editions, Newsletter PRODUCTS READ THE PETROLEUM NEWS ARCHIVE! ADVERTISING INFORMATION EVENTS PETROLEUM NEWS BAKKEN MINING NEWS

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
January 2014

Vol. 19, No. 2 Week of January 12, 2014

Coal gasification project remains alive

Cook Inlet Region Inc. is requesting return of reclamation bond for core holes; drilling in 2010 and 2011 showed promise

Wesley Loy

For Petroleum News

Cook Inlet Region Inc. is asking the state for return of a reclamation bond the company posted in connection with its underground coal gasification project.

But this doesn’t mean the project is dead.

“We’re still looking at it with our partner,” CIRI spokesman Jason Moore told Petroleum News.

In fact, the company plans to meet soon with Alaska Department of Natural Resources officials to talk about the project, he said.

The reclamation bond was associated with 13 core holes drilled during the 2010 and 2011 field seasons, said a DNR public notice published Jan. 6.

Based on information CIRI submitted, plus the state’s inspection of the core holes, DNR said it has determined the holes have been capped and sealed as required by regulation.

DNR said it currently holds a reclamation bond totaling $61,171.53. Of this, $57,754.10 is associated with the cost of capping and sealing the core holes and is available to be released.

“The remaining reclamation bond of $3,417.43 is required to cover the remaining reclamation associated with reestablishing vegetation at each drill hole location,” DNR said.

‘Coal energy without mining’

CIRI is the Alaska Native corporation for the Cook Inlet region.

In 2009, the company unveiled a plan to pursue an underground coal gasification project on remote CIRI land on the west side of the inlet. The plan included construction of a 100-megawatt power plant fired with synthesis gas, or syngas, derived from coal seams.

CIRI and its partner, Laurus Energy Inc., formed a joint venture in 2010 called Stone Horn Ridge LLC to pursue what company calls “coal energy without mining.”

The partnership’s website at stonehornridge.com describes how underground coal gasification, or UCG, works:

Injection and production wells are drilled into a deep coal seam. Operators pump oxygen into the injection well and initiate a controlled burn to gasify the coal. The syngas moves via a production well to the surface for processing.

“UCG is not coal mining, coal bed methane extraction or hydraulic fracturing,” the website says.

“Stone Horn Ridge is moving to develop a UCG project to initiate commercial operations and production as soon as 2015,” a company fact sheet says.

Exploration permit expired

In October 2011, a CIRI executive told an Alaska legislative committee the company’s exploration program had confirmed a significant commercial coal resource in a geologic setting favorable for UCG development.

The 13 core holes went down about 700 to 2,600 feet.

The potential development site is called Stone Horn Ridge, located northeast of the Beluga River.

Laurus Energy, based in Houston, develops UCG projects in North America using proprietary technology, the company’s website says.

Russell Kirkham, coal regulatory program manager for DNR, told Petroleum News on Jan. 8 that CIRI was issued an exploration permit in 2010.

The permit is now expired, but it can be renewed, Kirkham said.






Petroleum News - Phone: 1-907 522-9469 - Fax: 1-907 522-9583
[email protected] --- http://www.petroleumnews.com ---
S U B S C R I B E

Copyright Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA)©2013 All rights reserved. The content of this article and web site may not be copied, replaced, distributed, published, displayed or transferred in any form or by any means except with the prior written permission of Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA). Copyright infringement is a violation of federal law subject to criminal and civil penalties.