The project will see natural gas from the offshore Rang Dong oil field being used to fuel onshore gas-powered power plants in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A Nippon Oil spokesperson released a press statement that said, "The application is being examined under the clean development mechanism system outlined in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which gives emission rights for businesses' efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries."

The spokesperson also confirmed a report earlier published by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper that "the use of the gas in the Rang Dong oil field would yield an estimated total of 7 million to 12 million tons of CO2 emissions rights by 2011."

The Japanese business daily had also revealed that the gas generated from the field is currently burned off due to high processing costs. Should the emission rights be approved, this would prove to be a win-win situation for all parties involved.