Linc acquires Uzbekistan UCG company

Linc Energy has made a strategic acquisition by acquiring a 60 percent controlling....

  Linc Energy has made a strategic acquisition by acquiring a 60 percent controlling interest in Yerostigaz in Uzbekistan. Yerostigaz was a vital part of the former Soviet Union’s Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) program and has been operating continuously since 1964.Yerostigaz is the only commercial UCG operation in the world and feeds a power station adjacent to the Yerostigaz operation in Angren. Linc Energy’s CEO, Peter Bond said the Yerostigaz acquisition was a huge achievement for the company. “It allows Linc Energy to have effective ownership of a significant piece of the intellectual property and know-how of UCG as well as adding significant engineering capability and history that only comes from an organisation as old and distinguished as Yerostigaz,” Mr Bond said. Mr Bond said the company was particularly interested in acquiring the intellectual property attached to the deal.Linc Energy has already commenced an exchange program, swapping Yerostigaz experts to work at its site in Chinchilla and sending some of its own UCG staff to Yerostigaz in Uzbekistan to experience the site first-hand. Commenting on the transaction, Linc Energy Chairman, Brian Johnson said: “Underground Coal Gasification is emerging as one of the world’s great opportunities to unlock huge amounts of potential and inexpensive energy. With the Yerostigaz acquisition, Linc Energy has emerged as the largest and most commercial operator of UCG in the world today.” “With the additional expertise and employees to handle an increase in commercial operations, Linc Energy can now go forward to expand UCG operations in several other locations around the world, including China, India, USA and Australia,” Mr Johnson said.