One company I mentioned in my post on coal to liquids (CTL) last year was Linc Energy, who are trying to produce CTL using underground coal gasification (UCG) in Queensland. The Australian reports that the state government is having second thoughts about allowing UCG projects to proceed, instead seemingly preferring the rapidly expanding coal seam methane (CSM) industry - State lets off steam in coal gasification plans.

The Australian - Linc Energy shares rally after early plunge

THE Queensland Government last night backed away from a statement claiming that it would not issue any new licences for underground coal gasification technology for three years -- but not before the share prices of the two main companies operating in the area dropped dramatically. ...

The Queensland Government made its statement as a court battle continued between Linc Energy and coal seam methane gas producers Queensland Gas concerning access to coal-rich fields in the Surat Basin west of Brisbane. Linc Energy has tenements over land near Chinchilla, where it has a pilot plant burning coal underground using technology that originally came out of the Soviet Union. But while it has these tenements under the Minerals and Resources Act, Queensland Gas has tenements over the same land under the Petroleum and Natural Gas act.

The Australian - Clash over gas on the plains of western Darling Downs

The Australian - Newcrest back on Varanus Island gas

NEWCREST Mining, Australia's largest gold company, has begun receiving gas from Apache Energy's Varanus Island processing plant, two months after an explosion crimped production. Newcrest said it was receiving 50 per cent of its normal gas requirement for the Telfer operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with further increases expected later this month. The Varanus plant handles about 30 per cent of WA's domestic natural gas requirements, and the explosion forced some companies to source alternative gas or use expensive diesel to power their mines.

Bloomberg - Inpex Expects Record Profit After Oil Beats Forecast

Inpex is moving ahead with liquefied natural gas plant projects to capitalize on growing demand for the cleaner fuel. The company has found adequate reserves at the Masela gas field in Indonesia's Timor Sea to build the 5 million-ton-a-year Abadi liquefied natural gas plant, with production slated to begin 2016.

Inpex has said it is awaiting approval for the location of the A$12 billion ($11.1 billion) Ichthys LNG plant, either at the Maret Islands off Western Australia or in Darwin in the country's Northern Territory. ``Within a month or two, we'll determine the Ichthys plant location,'' Director Mutsuhisa Fujii told reporters in Tokyo.

NZ Herald - Origin will spend $71m to find oil and gas in South

Australian-listed Origin Energy has confirmed it will spend about US$50 million ($71.2 million) on a "high risk" one-hole offshore test drilling programme for oil and gas about 65km off the coast of Dunedin. Origin, one of the country's largest gas and oil explorers, has already completed a hydrographic seismic survey of the Carrack and Caravel prospects covering about 300sq km in the designated southern point of the Canterbury Basin.

The prospect area is about 35km from the Galleon 1 prospect, drilled by Shell BP Todd Canterbury Services in 1985, which found gas and oil but was capped as commercially unviable at the time. Origin manager of investor relations Angus Guthrie said from Australia the programme was considered high risk but with potentially high rewards. The Carrack and Caravel structures were estimated to contain possibly 750 million barrels of recoverable oil or 2700 petajoules of recoverable gas and 500 million barrels of associated condensate.

Courier Mail - Plantations to yield clean green fuel

AUSTRALIAN motorists could be driving cars run on clean, green fuel from forests of biodiesel trees in the future. Farmers are already rushing to get hold of seeds imported from the South American rainforests to grow plantations of trees that will produce alternative fuel to run machinery and vehicles on their properties. And scientists say the potential of some native Australian plants to be grown commercially as a renewable fuel source for transport and industry is exciting.

Researchers from the University of Queensland have partnered with Origin Energy and Pacific Renewable Energy on several hectares of pilot plantations of pongamia pinnata – sometimes referred to as native wisteria – at Roma and Caboolture. A hectare of the trees can produce 5500 litres of biodiesel a year – enough to run 100 cars for a year.

The Australian - PM told: rethink gas plan

OIL and gas company heads will join forces to call for changes to Labor's proposed emissions trading scheme in a bid to stop the exodus offshore of billions of dollars of LNG investment to the detriment of the environment. ... The chairmen or chief executives of companies including Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Woodside, Apache, Inpex, BP and BHP Billiton will write to Kevin Rudd, arguing he should rework the formula by which the Government is proposing to grant free emissions permits to existing high-emitting industries - a formula that excludes LNG.

frogblog - Where’s Winston?

Churchill that is. When one of the UK’s top scientists says “Prepare for global temperature rise of 4C“, we know we’re in trouble.

SMH - Rio Tinto ore output surges

Amid the record production numbers, Rio admitted to feeling the pinch of rising costs. Mr Albanese said the company is not immune to increasing cost pressures being felt across the industry. Operating costs have risen dramatically across the resources sector for items such as energy, labour, freight and consumables including, caustic soda, which is used in alumina production.

In other production figures, coking coal output rose 25% to 2 million tonnes, the company said. Output of alumina rose more than threefold and production of aluminum gained almost fivefold after Rio's purchase last year of Alcan. ... Uranium production was mixed, with a 26% drop at the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory and a 55% increase at the Rossing mine in Namibia. The Ranger operation was affected excess water in the open pit that restricted access to the higher-grade ore, while higher grades at Rossing led to an increase in production.

The Australian - Rio Tinto may float US coal assets

Last year ABN Amro estimated the sale value of Rio Tinto's US coal assets at $US4.1 billion, though prices for the commodity have since more than doubled year-on-year. Cloud Peak Energy produced 132.3 million tonnes of coal in 2007, making it the second-largest producer in the US by volume. Rio Tinto chief financial officer Guy Elliott said Rio Tinto continues to explore the possible sale of some or all of its US coal assets as part of the group-wide divestment program, as well as the IPO option.

Public Opinion - River Murray: greenwashing

Unbelievably, the Rann Government in SA is spinning the ecological disaster in the Lower Lakes of the Murray River in the form of water dreaming. It is painting a rosy future even as it plans to built a weir at Wellington to protect Adelaide's water supply. This is one issue where the state government's spin is at odds with reality. As a response to the community protests on the issue, its spin highlights its failure on water issues and its strong greenwashing. Lake Alexandrina is now 35cm below sea level, and acidification would be triggered at negative 1m, which is estimated in June 2009.

In contrast, Senator Wong, the federal Water Minister, has effectively written off the lakes, saying there was not enough water in the River Murray system to fill them.

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