TOKYO -- The United States, Japan and West Germany today put off a decision on a major synthetic fuel project proposed by the previous Carter Administration to turn coal into liquid fuel, officials said.
Budget cuts proposed by the Reagan Administration have threatened to scrap the first international coal liquefaction project, which called for building a $1.44 billion pilot plant in West Virginia.
The three governments wound up a two-day meeting in Tokyo today with agreement only to 'evaluate more closely' the project's current costs before going ahead with it, possibly on a reduced scale.
The coal-to-oil project proposed by the Carter Administration envisaged the development of methods for processing 6,000 tons of coal per day into 20,000 barrels of oil and gas.
The United States was to bear half the estimated cost, with the remainder shared by Japan and West Germany.
The three parties 'agreed that it would be necessary to evaluate more closely the project's current costs and scheduled estimates before deciding the future course' of the plan, a statement issued after the session said.
The U.S. delegation raised the possibility of cutting the size of the project because of substantial cost over-runs, but Japan said it would agree only if 'there are no changes in key substance of the scheme,' the statement said.
Japanese delegates prefer 'to maintain the existing scheme,' the document said, but conference sources said Japan may have to agree to a scaled-down project. The West Germans pressed for a smaller 'substitute plan,' the statement said.
The three countries scheduled another meeting June 4-5 at a place to be decided later, officials said.
