Japan Offers Coal-to-Gas Technology for Gas Supply

Japan, one of heavy energy users, offering Indonesia with technology that would allow it to produce gas from coal, in exchange for a stable supply of liquefied natural gas to Japan. The offer comes from Japan Gas Association especially since Indonesia is the largest liquefied natural gas exporter to Japan by volume and recently has been saying that it may cut LNG exports to Japan to meet its own domestic demand.

Indonesia's state-owned energy company, Pertamina, will reduce LNG exports to Japan to 3 million-5 million tons a year from 2011 from about 12 million tons a year now.

The development of the coal-to-gas technology for commercial use in turn can save Japan from the energy crisis. Indonesia is known to have an abundance source of coal.