TT sweet on methanol

When Atlas Methanol was commissioned last week at Point Lisas, this country rattled global producer and methanol markets. The mega-facility is a joint venture arrangement between Methanex Corporation and bpTT, who own 63.1 percent and 36.9 percent, respectively. The plant  is capable of producing 5,000 tonnes of methanol per day or 1.7 million tonnes per year. Energy Minister Eric Williams told guests at the ribbon-cutting ceremony  that this  is yet another sign of downstream participation in the petro-chemical sector.

Methanex is the world’s lar-gest producer and marketer of methanol, with production facilities  located  in  Chile, New Zealand and Canada. Its 2003 sales accounted  for 21 percent of the world market. At full production capacity, the natural gas consumption of the Atlas plant will  be approximately 160 million cubic feet per day, its methanol production will be transported by  a dedicated fleet of Methanex tankers to markets in the USA and Europe. “This facility and another like it, the M5000, to come on stream in 2005, is critical in our drive  towards our greater downstream participation in the petro-chemical sector,” he said. TT, he said, has become the largest exporter of methanol from a single site, with a current capacity of 2,960 million tonnes per annum of a total world export of 16,044 million tonnes per annum.                 

The engineering design features an air separation plant  located on site that is one of the largest of its kind in the world and can produce 2,800 tonnes of pure oxygen per day. With Atlas Methanol, he said TT’s  capacity has increased to 4,723 million tonnes per annum. He explained that foreign investors were in search of an environment  like Trinidad to conduct chemical business  since the price of gas went up in the US. “We created  the appropriate investment climate which has attracted many foreign investors and this resulted in the rapid expansion of the local methanol and ammonia industry,” he told guests. The minister said that Government’s excursion into the methanol industry started in 1984 with the TTMC1 and later TTMC2,  a strategic move, he added, to kick start the industry’s development by providing a platform of stability that would later attract tremendous levels of direct foreign investment.

Minister Williams added, “Today the annual methanol capacity is expected to grow from approximately 500,000 tonnes per year in 1983. With the start up of the Clico methanol plants in 2005, total output is expected  to jump to over six million  tonnes per annum. “This represents a growth of over 1,100 percent in production capability, with  commensurate increase in revenues. “For 2003, methanol from Trinidad and Tobago accounted for 39 percent of all US methanol imports, and for the current year  Trinidad and Tobago accounts for 40 percent of all US imports,” Williams said. Of major concern, he noted, is the vision of downstream industries which will create significant opportunities for small scale manufacturing and support industries for the local communities.

It is believed that Atlas will increase Methanex’s global methanol supply capacity by 20 percent, and that this new production figure, combined with the existing production from the Methanex’s Trinidad facility, will make Trinidad and Tobago the company’s major supply hub for Western Europe and US Markets. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Methanex Corporation, Pierre Hoquette, said that the overall success of  his company is “having the right people in the right places when it matters most.” Sales for the company in 2003 represents 6.6 million tonnes  or about 21 percent of the global demand for methanol, he said. Williams said Methanex’s presence here is an “indication of your faith in the Government and the people of the country.”