US Celanese’s Clear Lake plant to be operational by October 2015

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US Celanese plans to be producing methanol at its new Clear Lake methanol plant in Texas in October 2015, the company said on Tuesday.

Celanese broke ground on the 1.4m tonne/year project earlier this year after receiving approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project is a joint venture with Mitsui.

Celanese CEO Mark Rohr said, during the company’s quarterly earnings call, that construction is progressing on time and on budget.

“We believe our cost estimate, while tight, is adequate to manage a difficult market for skilled labour,” Rohr added.

He said the company consumes 900,000-1m tonnes/year of methanol.

Once the Clear Lake unit is operational, it will provide Celanese with about 650,000 tonnes of methanol for its own consumption.

“We expect to purchase between 250,000 to 350,000 [tonnes] at market price, minus a big buyer discount, and, assuming methanol and natural gas remain constant with current prices, the majority of the headwind is driven by the methanol we will purchase,” Rohr said.