Firm to start drilling Chilean gas wells in 2010

24 July 2008 19:35  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--BASF subsidiary Wintershall expects to start drilling in Chile in 2010 for its natural gas exploration consortium, which includes Methanex and GeoPark Holdings, the company said on Thursday.

The companies established a partnership to explore the Otway block in southern Chile.

Methanex expects to invest $100m-150m (€64m-96m) over the next three years toward exploration and production of natural gas as a way of alleviating the lack of supply to its world-scale methanol plant in southern Chile.

With the Chilean Methanex facility currently running at 33% capacity, the company has been ramping up its exploration activities to source more natural gas, a primary methanol feedstock.

Other gas exploration agreements to which Methanex has signed include a deal with Chilean state-owned gas company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo and a separate arrangement with GeoPark.

If Methanex strikes pay in such ventures, president Bruce Aitken said more money could be invested into upstream projects.

In other news, Methanex said its Egypt methanol facility is 40% complete and is on budget and on time for an early 2010 startup.

($1 =  €0.64)

For more on methanol visit ICIS chemical intelligence
For more on Methanex's Chile plant, visit ICIS plants and projects
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By: Steven McGinn
+1 713 525 2653

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