08 OVERSEAS INVESTMENT
‘Decisions on the timing
of further expansions
of Ar-Razi will be based
on demand growth and
availability of feedstock’
Abdullah K Al-Buainain, President of Saudi
Methanol Co (Ar-Razi): the fifth-phase
expansion is making good progress.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6
three successive expansions. The fifthphase
1.7m tonne/year expansion will be
completed in early 2008, making Ar-Razi
the world’s largest methanol complex with
5m tonne/year capacity.
MGC’s second long-standing methanol
joint venture is in Venezuela, with state
petrochemical company Pequiven and
others. Set up in 1992, the venture is
known as Metanol de Oriente, Metor S.A.
MGC and Mitsubishi Corp each hold a
23.75% stake, and Pequiven holds a 37.5%
share. The first 750 000 tonne/year facility
was started up in 1994. Completion of the
second-phase 850 000 tonne/year plant is
targeted for the second half of 2009 and
commercial start-up in Q1 2010.
The Brunei project, the first methanol
The Chemical Daily March 2008
AR-RAZI EXPANSION IS MAKING GOOD PROGRESS
L�‘Saudi Methanol
Company (Ar-Razi)’s fifthphase
expansion to add
1.7m tonne/year methanol
production is making good
progress,’ says Abdullah K
Al-Buainain, President of Ar-
Razi. ‘The plant will be the
largest and most
competitive in the world
when the expansion is
completed in Q1 2008,
giving it a strong position in
a global industry where
competition is intensifying
with a growing number of
large-scale methanol plants
with capacities of more than
1m tonne/year.
MGC owns two storage terminals in the US.
facility in the country, is now underway.
MGC, Itochu Corp and Brunei National
Petroleum Company have set up a joint
venture company. The plan is to build an
850 000 tonne/year facility in the Sungai
Liang Industrial Area. Brunei is seeking to
‘Ar-Razi is a 50:50 joint
venture between Saudi
Basic Industries Corp
(Sabic) and the Japan Saudi
Arabia Methanol Company
(JSMC) consortium led by
47%-stakeholder Mitsubishi
Gas Chemical. Current
capacity is 3.3m tonne/year
from four lines.
‘Demand for methanol is
growing worldwide. The
new production from the
fifth line will be supplied to
China, India, Southeast Asia
and Europe.
‘Sabic is also planning to
scale up its downstream
petrochemical business,
including methanol
derivatives. It has begun an
initial study with MGC on
production of derivatives
such as formalin and methyl
methacrylate.
‘Decisions on the timing
of further expansions of Ar-
Razi will be based on
demand growth and
availability of natural-gas
feedstock. Current strong
demand growth is forecast
to continue.
‘We also expect to be
able to secure sufficient
natural gas as a by-product
of increased crude oil
production.’
develop a chemical industry based on its
abundant natural gas resources. For MGC,
a base in Brunei, with its central position
in the growing Asian market, will give
it a strategic foothold for future market
development and represents a milestone.
Chongqing is one of the largest gasproducing
regions in inland China.
The intention is to combine the ready
availability of feedstock with MGC’s stateof-the
art technology to produce highly
competitive methanol and thus expand
its sales in the Chinese inland market, for
example in major cities such as Chengdu.
The 850 000 tonne/year project will be
undertaken by a joint venture between a
local Chongqing company and Japanese
investors led by MGC.
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.