Weather delays Linc plans in Cook Inlet

A run of bad weather forced Linc Energy Inc. to delay its underground coal gasification exploration program in Southcentral Alaska, the company told investors recently.

After moving its custom rig to the KEEX02 well site on the west side of Cook Inlet, some 18 miles southwest of the Beluga airstrip, “a series of unseasonably early, strong winter storms” delayed operations by “requiring road and facility repairs before drilling operations could commence,” the Australian independent said in third quarter filings.

Linc is drilling using a new rotary-core rig built by Buffalo Custom Manufacturing. The rig — Linc Energy Core Rig No. 1 — is the first of its type in Alaska, the company said.

As the company restarts its exploration efforts, Linc said, “discussions are ongoing with a number of possible partners and off-takes for UCG derived syngas in the region.”

Underground coal gasification is a process of synthesizing the carbon and oxygen molecules in deep coal deposits into methane, the chief component of natural gas.

Also during the quarter, Linc received a $3.7 million tax credit from the State of Alaska for exploration work the company undertook in the winter of 2011 and 2012.

—Eric Lidji