Methanex cuts its methanol costs with Fletcher purchase

Journal Article · Wed Feb 17 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Chemical Week; (United States)

OSTI ID:6691055

Plishner, E S

Methanex (Vancouver, BC) will significantly reduce' its unit cost of methanol production with the acquisition of all of Fletcher Challenge's (Auckland, NZ) methanol assets. These include the 800,000-m.t./year Cape Horn plant in Chile, one of the world's largest single train facilities. That plant is by far' the lowest-cost supplier of delivered methanol to the U.S., says analyst Sam Kanes of Scotia McLeod (Toronto), with gas costs below $1/1,000 cu.ft. Also included in the deal are two New Zealand plants: Petralgas, with capacity for 520,000 m.t./year, and Synfuel. Synfuel has the capacity to produce the equivalent of 1.8 million m.t./year of chemical-grade methanol, or 70,000 m.t./year of gasoline, or a combination. Currently rated at 450,000 m.t./year of methanol, that could double in 1994 with the addition of distillation capacity. After the transaction, Methanex will have a total of 2.4 million m.t./year of methanol capacity, plus marketing agreements for 1.0 million m.t./year. The company has plans to add 1.2 million m.t. of production (in Trinidad and the U.S.) and 0.6 million m.t. of further marketing arrangements over the next year and a half, bringing the total to over 5.0 million m.t./year. Methanex could have about twice as much capacity as the Saudis,' according to one consultant.

• OSTI ID: 6691055
• Journal Information: Chemical Week; (United States), Vol. 152:6; ISSN 0009-272X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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