Japan to spend $484 million on biofuel, GTL

The Japanese government has given the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) the go-signal to spend ¥58.1 billion (US$482.79 million) on research and development of such technologies as biofuel and gas-to-liquid technologies, in line with METI’s 2007-08 energy budget outline. The government’s approval comes as part of the country’s aim to reduce oil dependence by the country’s automobile industry to 80% by 2030. Although the budget outline did not have too many details, it said the ministry planned to spend ¥10.2 billion (US$84.75 million) on R&D of ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE)-blended or bioethanol blended-gasoline. The budget will be used on a government-funded pilot project released last October that aims to develop a new gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology that would eventually be capable of producing 30,000-40,000 barrels per day of naphtha, kerosene and gas oil from natural gas by around 2010. The project is being undertaken by the Nippon GTL Technology Research Association, a joint venture comprising refiners Nippon Oil and Cosmo Oil, upstream players Inpex and Japex, as well as engineering firms Nippon Steel Engineering and Chiyoda Corp. (January 3, 2007)