Indonesia’s Kaltim postpones 660,000 t/yr methanol shutdown

04 January 2010 10:53  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Indonesia’s Kaltim Methanol Industri has postponed the shutdown of its 660,000 tonne/year methanol plant at Bontang to the fourth quarter of 2010 due to strong demand, a company source said on Monday.

The annual turnaround had been scheduled for January-February 2010, the source said.

“[The] fourth quarter will be a better period for a turnaround," the source added. "We expect demand in the fourth quarter to slow following the successful start-up of the new Brunei plant. Petronas Methanol Labuan 1 (PML1) should be running smoothly by then too,” the source added.

Malaysia’s Petronas owns a 660,000 tonne/year methanol unit (PML1) and a 1.7m tonne/year methanol facility (PML2) at Labuan. Petronas said PML1 remained shut following a force majeure declared in August 2009 due to a lack of clean water supplies.

Brunei Methanol Company (BMC) said it expected to begin commercial production at its new 850,000 tonne/year methanol plant by the end of March 2010.

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By: Heng Hui
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