Linc subsidiaries file liquidation

A group of American companies associated with Linc Energy Ltd. have filed their joint plan of liquidation in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The companies have asked the court to set a Feb. 6 deadline for creditors to vote on the proposed plan and to schedule hearing for Feb. 13 to confirm the plan.

Over its six years in Alaska, Linc Energy drilled a conventional exploration well in the Cook Inlet basin, two delineation wells at the Umiat oil field in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and as many as four stratigraphic core holes in the Tyonek region and one in the Kenai region to test the feasibility of underground coal gasification in Alaska.

Through the bankruptcy process, a new company called Arctic Acquisition Inc. purchased the Umiat prospect using an $80 million credit bid. A credit bid allows a creditor to bid the value of the debt it is owed during a bankruptcy auction.

Through the sale, Arctic Acquisition technically purchased Linc Alaska Resources LLC’s 97.5 percent stake in Renaissance Umiat LLC, which includes the Umiat oil field. The debtors closed on the sale in late November 2016, according to recent court filings.

As of late December 2016, Arctic Acquisition was not listed in the main database of the state Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing or the list of qualified businesses maintained by the state Division of Oil and Gas and had no obvious web presence.

A new company called Malamute Energy Inc. has acquired the remaining Alaska assets in the Linc Energy Ltd. portfolio, including its wide-ranging exploration license issued by the Alaska Mental Health Trust land office. Malamute Energy was incorporated in Delaware in mid-June 2016 and became licensed in Alaska in early November 2016.

- ERIC LIDJI