Linc Energy was incorporated on 29 October 1996 as
Linc Energy N.L. On 17 November 2000, it changed its name to
Linc Energy Ltd. It listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on 10 May 2006 and on the
OTCQX in New York in December 2007. On 19 December 2013, Linc Energy delisted from the ASX and listed on the Mainboard of the
Singapore Exchange. Linc started its Chinchilla Demonstration Facility in July 1999. First gas was produced in that very same year. Initially Linc Energy used the underground coal gasification technology worked out by Ergo Exergy Technologies, Inc, of Canada. However, in 2006 the cooperation with Ergo Exergy was terminated and the cooperation agreement for technology usage, consultation and engineering services was signed with the
Skochinsky Institute of Mining and the Scientific-Technical Mining Association of Russia. In 2005, Linc signed a memorandum with
Syntroleum granting a licence to use the Syntroleum's proprietary
gas-to-liquid technology and started to build a GTL pilot plant in November 2007 at the Chinchilla facility. The plant was commissioned in August 2008. The first
synthetic crude was produced in October 2008. In November 2007, Linc Energy, in cooperation with BioCleanCoal Pty Ltd, established a joint venture to develop a
prototype bioreactor for converting
carbon dioxide through a
photosynthesis into
oxygen and solid
biomass. On 20 December 2007, Linc Energy acquired a 60% stake and later increased it to 91.6% in
Uzbekistan's underground coal gasification company SPC Yerostigaz. On 15 October 2008, a
South Australian oil and gas company SAPEX Limited was merged with Linc Energy. This acquisition provided Linc Energy with tenements in the
Arckaringa,
St Vincent and
Walloway basins. In 2009, Linc Energy purchased from GasTech IncNorth American coal tenements in
Montana (
Powder River Basin),
Wyoming, and
North Dakota. In 2010, Linc Energy acquired tenements in the Cook Inlet Basin in Alaska from GeoPetro Alaska. At the same year, it sold non-core Emerald, Galilee and Pentland
coal mining tenements in Queensland to Adani Mining Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of
Adani Group. In October 2010, Linc Energy acquires 10% stake in the UK-based
alkaline fuel cell company
AFC Energy and in 2011, it increased its stake up to 12%. In the cooperation with AFC Energy and
B9 Coal, the company commissioned a hydrogen fuel cell named
Alfa System at Chinchilla. Combining the fuel cell technology with the underground coal gasification allows usage of
hydrogen, produced by the underground coal gasification process, as a feedstock for the fuel cell. In 2011, it acquired three producing oil fields from Rancher Energy, 14 oil fields from ERG Resources, and purchased Renaissance LLC to take control in the Umiat oil field. In April 2012, Linc Energy partnered with a subsidiary of Hong Kong listed Golden Concord Holdings (GCL) to commercialise fuel using its UGC to GTC technology in China. Golden Concord purchased a 5% stake in the company for 120 million Australian dollars (US$124 million). On 23 January 2013, Linc Energy announced the discovery of
tight oil resource surrounding
Coober Pedy estimated at between of oil. At the same year, their subsidiary New Emerald Coal bought the
Blair Athol coal mine. In July 2014, the company announced that it had gained initial approval from the
Ministry of Environment of Poland to commence an underground coal gasification project and that the company has been awarded its third coal exploration license in Poland. Also in July 2014, Linc Energy announced plans to commence drilling wells to prove up deeper parts of the
Arckaringa Basin.
Voluntary Administration On 16 April 2016, after the coal price fell from a high of US$130 to $US55 per tonne, the company was placed into voluntary administration. PPB Advisory were appointed as the administrator. On 13 May 2016 the administrators announced that in their opinion the company should be liquidated, but found Linc Energy were solvent prior to the appointment of administrators and they could not identify any potential offences or liquidation recoveries. At the second creditors meeting on 23 May 2016 the unanimous vote was for the company to be liquidated. The administrator's report found the rapid deterioration of global commodity prices impacted on Linc Energy's financial position. ==Operations==