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Brunei: World-class methanol plant in the making(Borneo Bulletin Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Brunei Darussalam is already an established crude oil and natural gas producer. Its move towards industrialisation saw the creation of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in 1973, nearly four decades ago. Yesterday's signing ceremony of six project agreements to commence construction of a world-class methanol plant signifies another major industrial boost to the country. Brunei Methanol Company Sdn Bhd (BMC) is an international joint venture company established following the signing ceremony of a joint venture agreement in November 2005 between Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc (MGC), Brunei National Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (PetroleumBRUNEI) and ITOCHU Corporation (ITC). MGC holds an equity share of 50 per cent, while PB Petrochemical Co (a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroleumBRUNEI) and ITC hold a 25 per cent stake each. As the project involves a significant amount of investment, the BMC, through its financing advisor (Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd) has successfully negotiated for the project to be financed by a banking syndicate led by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) on a limited recourse "project finance" basis. This international project financing is the first of its kind for Brunei. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI), which signed the engineering procurement construction contract with BMC on March 29, will construct the methanol plant on a full turnkey lump sum basis. Construction is due to be completed by the end of 2009, with commercial operations targeted for the second quarter of 2010. The methanol plant is expected to place Brunei on the world map of global methanol producers. Methanol is one of the basic chemicals that have a variety of derivative usages. It is mainly used as a raw material to produce substances such as formaldehyde and acetic acid. Demand for methanol is expected to grow with the advancement in other potential applications such as biodiesel and dimethylether (DME) in the future. The current world demand for methanol is 36 million tonnes per year. The demand has been growing at a rate of three per cent per annum. The $600-million methanol plant is estimated to produce 850,000 tonnes of methanol per annum. A significant space has been set aside for spin-off industries, as methanol is found to be the derivative of various products ranging from plastic household goods to industrial strength materials to medicine. Due to the high Asian economic growth rate, a higher demand is forecast especially in the region, where BMC aims to export its produced methanol. Consequently, direct employment opportunities will be made in various operational aspect of the plant, such as general administration, mechanical, instrumentation and marketing, amounting to 160 job positions by April 2010. Brunei is ideally located in the middle of the growing Asian market and BMC's methanol production is also supported by one of the most competitive natural gas prices. Due to the favourable conditions of both the natural gas prices and Brunei's strategic location in Asia, BMC is poised to be one of the most competitive methanol producers in the international market. Kartika Rahman Copyright 2007 Brunei Press Sdn Bhd. Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire. |