Alkane Energy rises on tie up with Aberdeen Drilling

Alkane Energy is "farming in" Aberdeen Drilling to two of its exploration licences in the North East and East Midlands regions of England.The agreement could see Aberdeen gain up to 50% of the concessions in a drilling campaign focused on "coal bed methane".The estimates for the total gas in place for both sites are currently 385bn cubic feet.Alkane's Chief Executive, Neil O'Brien, said the deal, which is Alkane's first venture in coal bed methane, was part of a strategy of transferring skills to "related business streams."The company's main focus is extracting methane from coal mines.News of the tie up saw the stock gain 4.03% by 10:15am. Over the last year Alkane shares have dropped 4.6%.BS