Methanol Holdings Trinidad Releases First UAN Shipments from Point Lisas AUM Facility

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The most recently built petrochemical plant in Trinidad and Tobago, operated by Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL) (Couva, Trinidad) and located in Point Lisas, Trinidad, has made the first shipments of the liquid fertilizer known as UAN, a mixture of urea and ammonium nitrate. Construction and commissioning of the new complex, which produces ammonia, urea and melamine products, is reported to be three months ahead of schedule and within budget. When testing has been completed and the complex is fully commissioned, the facility will have a total annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons of UAN.

The plant makes up the second stage of a planned $1.7 billion complex that is scheduled for completion by the end of 2010. The first stage, with an annual production capacity of 616,000 tons of ammonia, was completed in May last year. Output from this stage will be used as feedstock for the melamine and UAN plants in the complex.

Production of melamine will begin later this year, with production capacity expected to be in the order of 60,000 tons per year. Melamine is an important component used in the manufacture of resin and in the paint and plastic sectors. The complex is viewed by MHTL as an important diversification of its product lines.

MHTL is one of the world's leading producers of methanol, with the company commanding 23% of the global trade in this commodity. The firm has several methanol plants in operation in Trinidad and Tobago and an annual production capacity of up to 6 million tons of methanol. The largest of its methanol producing plants can generate up to 5,000 tons of methanol each day from natural gas and water.

About 75% of the methanol produced by MHTL is exported to North America, making Trinidad the largest exporter of methanol to North America. About 24% of the production is exported to Europe, with the remainder sold in the local market.

MHTL markets its methanol through the services of Helm AG (Hamburg, Germany), a private company specializing in the marketing and distribution of chemicals. Helm, in turn, markets the methanol in North America through contracts with Southern Chemical Corporation (Houston, Texas).

To cater to customers speedily, MHTL has a fleet of dedicated methanol tankers, ranging in capacity from 14,000 dead weight tons (DWT) to 48,000 DWT. The company also operates storage facilities in major ports in North America, where it has facilities totaling 165,000 tons in storage capacity. In Europe, MHTL has about 50,000 tons of storage capacity in Rotterdam.

MHTL also has interests in the Middle Eastern and Asian markets, as well as a 60% interest in Oman Methanol Company (OMC) (Falaj Al Qabail, Oman), which it owns with Ferrostaal AG (Essen, Germany) and Omar Zawawi Establishment LLC (Omzest) (Muscat, Oman). OMC operates a 3,000-ton-per-day methanol plant in Sohar, Oman, from which it supplies distributors in the Middle East and Far East markets.

Methanol is a key intermediate component in many industrial applications such as production of polyesters, formaldehyde resins and acrylics. It is also an ingredient in the production of biodiesel.

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