CIRI, Laurus form coal gasification JV

Cook Inlet Region Inc. and Houston-based Laurus Energy have announced the formation of a joint venture called Stone Horn Ridge LLC to build an underground coal gasification facility on CIRI land on the west side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

When in October CIRI announced its plans to develop an underground coal gasification, or UCG, facility to generate synthetic gas to fuel a 100-megawatt power station, the Alaska regional Native corporation said that it would establish a deal to partner with Laurus Energy, a company that specializes in UCG applications in North America using proprietary UCG technology from a Canadian company, Ergo Exergy Technologies.

UCG involves the pumping of compressed air into a coal seam deep underground to enable the controlled underground combustion of some coal; the heat from the burning converts excess air and the bulk of the coal to synthetic gas for delivery to the surface through production wells. Carbon dioxide in the gas would be stripped out for enhanced oil recovery from Cook Inlet oil fields, while the remaining combustible components of the gas would provide a valuable replacement for tightening supplies of Cook Inlet natural gas, as a power generation feedstock.

“Stone Horn Ridge ensures that the U.S. doesn’t fall behind the rest of the world in developing UCG as a critical piece of the country’s new energy economy,” said Rebecca McDonald, CEO of Laurus Energy on June 8 in announcing the new joint venture.

“UCG is changing the way we think about coal and allows us to harness its power in a responsible, economic and environmentally sound way,” said Ethan Schutt, CIRI’s senior vice president of land and energy development. “By combining the abundant and otherwise unusable coal reserves on CIRI land with Laurus Energy’s proprietary Exergy UCG technology, Stone Horn Ridge is creating a cost-effective energy source to meet increasing needs.”

—Alan Bailey