Methanex warns of reduced gas feedstock supply to plants in Trinidad

Methanex anticipates gas curtailments in Trinidad in the second half of 2014 to be higher than those experienced in the first half of the year, the methanol producer confirmed Thursday.

The National Gas Company (NGC) has advised Methanex that it should expect higher curtailments in the second half of 2014 due to upstream platform maintenance and tie‐in activities and the ongoing mismatch between upstream commitments to supply NGC and downstream demand from NGC's customers.

Methanex now estimates curtailments to its two Trinidad facilities to be in the range of 20% for the second half of 2014.

Methanex says it continues to work with the Trinidad government and other stakeholders with a view to resolving gas supply shortfalls to its Trinidad plants.

However, the situation is dynamic and it is difficult to forecast the gas curtailments or when 100% gas supply can be expected to return to the Trinidad facilities, according to company officials.

Methanex is the operator of two plants in Trinidad, Titan and Atlas. The company holds 100% and 63.1% interests in the two facilities, respectively, for a combined proportional share of capacity of about 2 million tons of methanol.

The plants are situated in Point Lisas Industrial Estate in central Trinidad.