'The Indonesian government plans to run a project to produce synthetic fuel using its abundant coal stocks as part of the energy diversification program, an official said Tuesday.
The government will appeal for technological support from Japan to convert coal to liquid fuel, said Nenny Sri Utami, head of the research and development center with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral resources.
Coal-based fuel is targeted to contribute at least 2 percent to national energy supplies by 2025.
"We will produce synthetic coal-based fuel with similar quality with that of oil fuel," she said at a seminar in her office in Jakarta.
Indonesian and Japanese firms will establish a consortium and set up factories in coal-rich provinces, such as South Sumatra, East and South Kalimantan, with initial investment of 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, she said.'
Point is: Japan had viable Coal-to-Oil technology in WWII, which, like Germany's similar installations, was real enough to inspire serious, targeted Allied military action. And, they still have that technology, no doubt now advanced and refined, and are again reducing it to practice, in Indonesia.