MOSCOW (MRC) -- Methanex (Vancouver, Canada) will idle its 875,000-metric tons/day Titan methanol facility in Couva, Trinidad, “indefinitely” and is restructuring its operations there to support a “one-plant operation,” it says, said Chemweek.
The company halted production at Titan on 16 March 2020 due to the COVID-19-related downturn in manufacturing activity globally. Today’s announced restructure will result in the loss of approximately 60 jobs for employees and long-term contractors in Trinidad, it says.
Methanex’s other methanol facility in Trinidad, the Atlas plant also at Couva, will not be affected by the restructure and “continues to operate as it is underpinned by a separate natural gas supply agreement that expires in 2024,” it says. The company operates the 1.822-million metric tons/year (MMt/y) Atlas plant and holds a 63.1% ownership stake in it, with BP owning the remaining 37%.
Methanex says it has so far been unable to reach an agreement for an economic longer-term supply of natural gas feedstock for the Titan facility. The company has been in negotiations with The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC) following the expiry of the previous supply contract at the end of 2019. “Given that the economic recovery path remains uncertain, we believe it is prudent to reduce costs while continuing our efforts to secure longer-term gas supply,” it says.
The company remains committed to doing business in Trinidad and Tobago and believes it will be able to secure an economic longer-term gas agreement for Titan “in the coming years,” says Methanex CEO John Floren. “We are taking the necessary steps to maintain Titan to ensure a safe and efficient restart of the plant when a longer-term gas agreement is reached,” he says.
Methanex also idled its Chile IV methanol plant on 1 April last year but Floren said in November the company was restarting the facility as global methanol demand was improving. The Titan and Chile IV plants account for 19% of Methanex’s methanol capacity of 9.2 MMt/y. It also announced in April it was delaying construction on its USD1.4-billion Geismar 3 methanol project in Louisiana by up to 18 months and placing it on temporary “care and maintenance,” deferring approximately USD500 million of previously announced capital spending.
The company reported a third-quarter 2020 net loss of USD88 million in November, following a loss of USD65 million in the second quarter.
As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP"s latest long-term energy outlook issued in September 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.
Earlier last year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40% in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.
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