MOSCOW (MRC) -- Mitsui & Co. has announced that Fairway Methanol LLC, a 50-50 joint venture between Mitsui and US-based chemicals company Celanese, has commenced production of methanol at its planned annual production capacity of 1.3 million tons, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.
In addition to access to reliable supplies of affordable gas feedstocks thanks to the US shale revolution, project officials also expect to benefit from the use of existing infrastructure belonging to Celanese situated in Pasadena, Texas.
Mitsui and Celanese will each take a portion of the methanol produced, with Mitsui planning to sell the methanol mainly in the US. Demand for methanol is expected to remain steady, the company says.
Mitsui says it is utilizing its shale gas business in the US as the starting point for expanding the scope of its downstream activities in the gas value chain, including chemicals and infrastructure.
"In combination with the upstream gas production business, we can build a strong and stable business portfolio less susceptible to the impact of gas price fluctuations," the company said in a statement.
As MRC reported before, in June 2015, Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract from Celanese Corp. for the construction of a vinyl acetate ethylene (EVA) emulsions production plant at Jurong Island, Singapore. Construction is expected to begin by mid-2015, and the unit is expected to begin production by second half of 2016. Company officials did not disclose the contract value.
Mitsui Chemicals,a Japanese chemical company, is a part of the Mitsui conglomerate. The company has a turnover of around 15 billion USD and has business interests in Japan, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the USA. The company mainly deals in performance materials, petro and basic chemicals and functional polymeric materials.
Celanese Corporation is a global technology leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Based in Dallas, Texas, Celanese employs approximately 7,500 employees worldwide and had 2014 net sales of USD6.8 billion.
MRC