Celanese plans to build 1.3m tonne/year methanol plant near Houston

14 June 2012 13:51  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Celanese plans to build a 1.3m tonne/year methanol plant at Clear Lake near Houston, the US-based chemicals major said on Thursday.

Celanese expects to start up the plant after 1 July 2015, it said.

A significant portion of the methanol produced at the plant will be used to support Celanese’s acetyl operations at Clear Lake. The company expects to partner with one or more additional entities interested in the remaining methanol, it added.

“The positive developments in the US energy complex and the current and emerging natural gas surplus make it advantageous for us to produce our own methanol requirements for US acetyl production,” CEO Mark Rohr said.

“Utilising existing Celanese infrastructure [at Clear Lake] helps reduce capital requirements while capturing advantages of state-of-the-art technologies,” Rohr added without disclosing the project's expected costs.

Analysts had expected Celanese to make such an investment, ICIS reported last month.

Meanwhile, Methanex, the world's largest producer of methanol, plans to relocate an idled methanol plant from Chile to Louisiana.

Additional reporting by Lane Kelley

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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