OCI N.V. (Euronext: OCI) today announced, in partnership with Consolidated Energy Limited (CEL), that Natgasoline LLC, its jointly owned greenfield methanol production facility located in Beaumont, Texas, has achieved the major milestone of mechanical completion. Natgasoline is expected to have a capacity of 5,000 metric tons per day and will be the largest methanol production facility in the United States.
This achievement signals that construction and pre-commissioning activities are substantially complete for the facility. Operations of the plant have now been handed over to Natgasoline for final commissioning and start-up, with first production of methanol expected in the second quarter of 2018.
The refurbishment of BioMCN’s second methanol production line in the Netherlands is also on track and the line is expected to start production in the fourth quarter of 2018. Including OCI’s 50% proportionate share in Natgasoline, the expanded BioMCN operations and OCI Partners, OCI’s methanol group’s capacity is expected to reach 2.8 million metric tons by the end of 2018, effectively doubling OCI’s current methanol asset footprint and positioning OCI as one of the largest merchant methanol producers globally.
