(EnergyAsia, July 6 2012, Friday) — Australia’s Cougar Energy Limited said it has extended its agreement for the use of a proprietary underground coal gasification (UCG) technology from Canadian technical partner Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc.

Cougar said it signed the extension for the use of the Montreal-based company’s ?UCGTM Technology just as it is “aggressively developing” its UCG interests and business in Asia.

According to Cougar, Ergo Exergy has a long and proven track record in applying its technology to UCG projects across the Western world including a successful demonstration pilot plant at Chinchilla in Queensland from 1999 to 2002, and the ignition at Kingaroy in March 2010.

Ergo Exergy has also successfully managed the ignition and expansion of the pilot demonstration plant operated since January 2007 by Eskom, the South African government utility company, which wants use the ?UCGTM Technology to produce up to 2,000MW of power over a 10-year period.

In April this year, Solid Energy Ltd, a New Zealand state-owned energy company, announced the successful ignition and syngas production from its NZ$22m UCG pilot plant on North Island using the ?UCGTM Technology. Solid Energy will use the plant to provide  geological, process and environmental data to assist in commercial UCG plant design.

Ergo Exergy has developed an extensive knowledge bank to support its ?UCGTM technology through its experience gained in many countries around the world. This combined with Cougar Energy’s project design and operating experience presents a powerful alliance to evaluate and develop several prospective UCG projects in Asia.