Methanex to restart New Zealand methanol plant

13 May 2008 05:57  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Canada’s Methanex expects to spend New Zealand dollars (NZ$)70m ($53.8m) to restart one of its methanol plants at Motunui in New Zealand after securing more natural gas supplies at reasonable prices, it said on Tuesday.

"It is good business to restart the plant now in the wake of being able to secure enough feedstock at the right price and right length of time" said Zaneta Ewashko, the company's public affairs manager.

The firm planned to restart the 900,000 tonne/year plant in the third quarter of 2008, it added in a statement.  

The plant was expected to take approximately one month to hit maximum capacity and would bring the firm’s total methanol production capacity in New Zealand to 1.4m tonnes annually, it said.

The plants at the Motunui site had to be shut down in 2004 due high feedstock prices and low margins, it added.

Vancouver-based Methanex is the world’s biggest methanol producer and supplies over 17% of the global methanol demand.

($1 = NZ$1.30)

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By: Bohan Loh
+65 6780 4359

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