Methanol industry under attack - Methanex chief

17 October 2007 20:27  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--The global methanol industry is finding itself under assault in a regulatory environment that is driven by political lobbying, but not based on science, Methanex chief executive Bruce Aitken said on Wednesday, and urged the industry to step up efforts to make its case.

“We need to take steps to define how our product is regulated and used, or our competitors will do it for us,” Aitken told delegates at the 2007 Methanol Forum in Toronto.

“Economics and sound science are often overridden by politics,” he added.

Aitken pointed to what he called the methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)-versus-ethanol struggle in the US, which the industry lost, resulting in the disappearance of 6% of the global methanol market.

But other methanol derivatives such as formaldehyde and dimethyl ether (DME) are also under threat, he said.

Formaldehyde was facing “disparaging advertising” campaigns by its opponents which could bring about a gradual market de-selection of formaldehyde products by consumers, he said.

In the DME market, where China is adding large capacities, the industry was exposed to attacks by established oil industry interests, he said.

“Success or failure [of methanol in energy and other uses] will depend to a large extent on advocacy efforts,” Aitken said.

Rampersad Motilal, chief executive of Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited, urged the industry to not just put forward science-based arguments to defend its products. It also needed a better communications strategy that would address the “emotional aspects” advanced by opponents of methanol and its derivatives, he said.

Co-sponsored by Houston-based consultants Jim Jordan & Associates and the Washington, DC-based Methanol Institute (MI), the two-day 2007 Methanol Forum ends on Thursday.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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