Methanex CEO: ‘It is possible we’ll be moving a third Chile plant to Geismar’

Vancouver-based Methanex, the world’s largest supplier of methanol, has already announced that it’s moving two of its four Chile production facilities to Geismar. Now it appears a third plant relocation to the Capital Region is also possible. Speaking at the annual Methanol Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., recently, Methanex President and CEO John Foren said the company is considering building a new plant at its Canadian site in Medicine Hat, Alberta, adding that it’s also considering relocating more of its Chile and China production facilities to the United States, chemical industry news service ICIS reports. “It is possible we’ll be moving a third Chile plant to Geismar, and we’re also looking at a new build in Medicine Hat,” ICIS quotes Floren as saying. Floren also said that of the five U.S. methanol plants that the company moved offshore in the mid-2000s, three went to China. Citing the shale gas revolution, Floren said those China plants “may come back to the U.S.” It was in April of last year that Gov. Bobby Jindal joined Methanex officials in Gonzales to announce the second plant relocation to Geismar. The first plant is expected to be operational by the end of this year, and the second by early 2016, Methanex said in its fourth quarter 2013 report released in late January. In total, the two Geismar plants will bring a $1.1 billion investment to Ascension Parish. —Staff report