The enclosed United States Patent, issued very nearly three decades ago to Exxon, thoroughly describes, and plainly confirms, how both Methane and the liquid fuel, Methanol, can be synthesized from raw materials produced by the Steam gasification of Coal.
Moreover, the process is, overall, "thermoneutral"; meaning that, as in other Coal conversion technologies we have documented for you, all of the energy needed to drive the total process of synthesizing gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons from Coal can be generated as one integral function of that Coal conversion process.
In the full Disclosure, it is revealed that at least some of the co-produced Carbon Dioxide is recycled into the synthesis gas generation process, where, presumably, like the Coal, and in the presence of the hot Coal, which, as we have earlier documented, serves to convert CO2 into reactive Carbon Monoxide, the CO2 becomes involved in hydrogenation reactions with the Steam, and, thus, contributes to formation of the Methane and Methanol synthesis gases.