METHANEX PLANS TO RELOCATE SECOND METHANOL PLANT TO SOUTH LOUISIANA
Methanex Moves Plant from Chile to Louisiana
ENR.com 11/06/2013 By Nicholas Zeman
Vancouver-based methanol producer Methanex has fast-tracked the relocation of a major chemical plant to the U.S. Gulf Coast from South America to capitalize on natural-gas prices from U.S. shale plays. It is a massive undertaking that involves hundreds of skilled workers and a seven-month voyage, but it's still cheaper than building a new plant.
To move the parts from Santiago, Chile, Methanex contracted a special vessel, the Dockwise Vanguard, which can sink itself to water level to receive and unload large industrial equipment. "These ships have to be scheduled months, sometimes years in advance, so there was only a short window to unload the modules and get them to the site," says Dale LaBlanc, site manager for Cajun Industries Inc., Baton Rouge. "We made sure it all had somewhere to go."
Methanex disassembled the plant in Santiago months before Cajun got on-site in Geismar, La. "We had to mobilize to start the site work very quickly … no dates could be missed," LaBlanc says. "If adjustments had to be made, they were done on-site."
Working from a Louisiana cow pasture, the contractor stabilized sand and clay and laid underground pipe and foundations. "We've had about 300 people out at the site ourselves—carpenters, machine operators, concrete finishers. It's a major project," LaBlanc says.
Methanol is a chemical used in many manufacturing processes, including renewable-fuel products, paint, sealants and plastics. The versatility of the substance is generating a global surge in demand.
Methanex, whose stock price has doubled in a year, plans to relocate a second plant to Geismar, as well. The $1.1-billion effort will generate 2,500 construction jobs at its peak. The first plant will be operational in 2014, the second in 2016, Methanex says.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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I haven't seen a figure published yet.
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Permalink Reply by P.G. on -
A Chemistry Breakthrough That Could Fuel a Revolution
Related breakthroughs in chemistry now make it possible to efficiently convert natural gas from shale into methanol. Hydraulic fracturing is making shale gas so inexpensive and abundant that America now taps more natural gas than either Saudi Arabia or Russia. Until now, however, that abundance of supply has not translated directly into benefits for drivers in the form of lower fuel costs, or reduced dependence on foreign oil. The methanol-conversion process can be a game changer, because shale gas can immediately be put to use as liquid transportation fuel.
Methanol also provides higher performance. It has an octane rating of 100, greater than premium gasoline, one reason that pure methanol was used for decades to fuel the race cars at the Indianapolis 500. Yet putting methanol in the gas tank is economical, too. It is significantly cheaper per mile driven than either gasoline or ethanol. Unlike ethanol, methanol does not raise food prices.
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Permalink Reply by ledlights on
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Thanks PG. I don't know if everyone has the same experience, but when I click on the article link in your message. I get a subscription blurb and can't see the article. However if I do a search on the article title and then click on a result link to take me to the article I actually can read the article. This is typical of my experience with posting links to WSJ articles. YMMV?
The rest of the article mentions the major barriers to use of methanol as transportation fuel revolving around the subsidies and policies supporting ethanol usage. Methanol has been convertable from NG for some time, but it has a significantly lower BTU content than gasoline and past conversion processes made it more expensive per BTU than gasoline according to what I have read. How much of the new claimed economy in methanol production from NG is due to cheaper NG and how much comes from these more efficient conversion methods? Conversion of CO2 into methanol sounds promising.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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Thanks, P.G. It is difficult to overstate the impact that cheap natural gas is having on the chemical industry. The investments being made in new facilities and capacities in existing facilities are stunning. And the potential benefits of GTL (Gas To Liquids) technology, LNG export and cheap feed stock costs for all manner of chemical manufacture will have a tremendous impact not only on the communities where these investments are being made but for the wider population of US consumers. The demand will even have a salutary effect on natural gas prices for royalty recipients.
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Permalink Reply by 1kw6x71km1v37 on
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Lots of optimism over the abundance of natural gas, but be mindful of those decline curves. Rose bushes have flowers...and thorns.
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