CL Financial ups ante with M5000 methanol plant

Methanol Holdings Trinidad Limited has begun construction of its M5000 plant, the company’s latest broadside into the lucrative business. According to Lawrence Duprey, Chairman,  start up date of the first quarter is in 2005. Since 1990, MHTL has constructed, commissioned and operated three methanol, plants starting with the CMC plant. This was followed by the TTMC II plant and the MIV plant. Apart from massive investments in methanol MHTL also has significant investments in ammonia and is pursuing upstream opportunities in oil and gas, said Duprey. “We are also poised to enter the downstream petrochemical sector in a significant way shortly,” said Duprey at the project launch at Point Lisas.

The M5000 will be the number one exporter as well as the number one producer of methanol worldwide, according to the company’s chairman. The plant is set to be between the existing CMC methanol plant and the TTMC I plant, allowing it to co-exist with the two plants. The rated capacity for the plant is 5000 metric tons per day which stands at more than three times the capacity of MHTL largest existing plant. M5000 will be capable of using purge gases from the existing plants to produce an additional 400 tons per day, making it the world’s largest methanol plant in terms of production.