Petronas Methanol starts Asia’s largest plant

A subsidiary of Malaysia’s state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd. said that it has commenced commissioning work at a methanol plant in Labuan, the biggest in Asia. The commissioning work started May 13 on the plant, which has a production capacity of 50,000 metric tons a day or 1.7 million tons a year, Petronas Methanol (Labuan) Sdn Bhd. said in a statement. Commercial production at the plant is scheduled for September this year, with feedstock of 150 million cubic feet of natural gas to be supplied from offshore fields near Sabah. Construction started in 2005 by local contractors Sumatec, Dialog and Yokogawa Kontrol Malaysia. The methanol produced will meet local demand and also will be exported to other countries in Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the statement said. (May 16, 2008)