July 30, 2012

Rob Neill, former Senior Commercial Manager at UCG company Linc Energy, has been appointed CEO and Managing Director of Cougar Energy.

Mr Neill will take up his roles with Cougar – the operators of the halted underground coal gasification (UCG) development near Coolabunia – on August 6.

The appointment follows the decision earlier this year by Cougar founder Dr Len Walker to step down from the positions to focus on the commercial development of UCG technology in Asia. He will, however, remain on the Cougar Energy board.

On Friday, Cougar notified the ASX it was considering the potential divestment of “non-strategic tenement assets” in Australia.

However preparation of the company’s two court actions in Queensland (seeking damages as well as overturning the orders closing down the Kingaroy site) is continuing.

“The immediate focus for Cougar Energy is to bring its UCG project strategy in Asia to realisation in the target countries of China, Mongolia and Indonesia,” the quarterly report to the ASX stated.