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xState-owned PT Pupuk Sriwijaya, Indonesia’s largest fertilizer company, is planning to build a coal gasification plant to cope with gas shortages.

The firm, also known as Pusri, said on Thursday that it would either build the plant at the Donggi-Senoro gas field in Central Sulawesi or at Tangguh in Papua.

Dadang Heru Kodri, Pusri’s president director, said the company had conducted studies on the technology required for the factory but had yet to calculate how much it would cost or decide on a timetable for the project.

“We have the technology but will continue to develop it by sending our staff to South Africa’s Sasol Ltd.,” he said.

Sasol, the world’s top maker of synthetic fuel, started talks this year with state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and state-owned coal miner PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam about developing a $10 billion coal-liquefaction plant.

Dadang said Pusri was also keen to participate in that joint venture. “It might not be in the form of a direct involvement with the joint venture, but we’re certainly interested in Sasol’s technology,” he said.

Pusri warned in March that it might be forced to slash production because of a lack of a reliable supply of natural gas, a problem afflicting the domestic fertilizer industry because gas producers can command higher prices on international markets.

Dadang said many of the company’s gas-supply contracts would expire in 2012.

Pusri, which has 14 fertilizer plants, needs more than 344 million standard cubic feet per day to operate them at full capacity. Currently the company only has access to 273 mmscfd.

Meanwhile, Dadang confirmed that Pusri hoped to revive a $600 million project to build a fertilizer plant in Iran in partnership with the National Petrochemical Company of Iran, which has been stalled since 2007.

“We have signed several agreements and we have asked to postpone the long stop date [last date by which something must be done] to September 30,” he said.

Already signed are a gas sale and purchase agreement, a utility sale and purchase agreement, a land lease agreement, a marketing and offtake agreement, a basic engineering agreement and an ammonia process license, Dadang said.

“Iran is still interested in the project but we’re waiting for the green light from the [Indonesian] government as well as looking for loans to help finance the project,” he said, adding that it was unlikely to get off the ground until next year.