The 1.3 million mt/year Celanese/Mitsui methanol plant in Clear Lake, Texas, has successfully restarted following its shutdown August 26 amid a process trip associated with Hurricane Harvey, the company said Thursday.
"Celanese has a standard practice of not commenting on the operational status of its global manufacturing facilities," spokesman Travis Jacobsen said. "However, given the extenuating circumstances resulting from Hurricane Harvey, yes, I can confirm that Celanese has restarted its methanol unit at its Clear Lake, Texas, facility."
The methanol facility in Clear Lake shut down after a process trip during heavy rainfall, the company said August 27 in a filing with state regulators. The shutdown also affected all downstream acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer units at the site, sources said.
"Startup will be executed following standard operating procedures to minimize flare emissions," the company said in its August 27 filing. "Based on information from previous startups, a methanol unit startup can take up to 10 days."
Market participants had started to suggest the Clear Lake facility may have come back online as late as last week, sources said. Company comment was not available at that time.
Spot methanol prices climbed to 4 1/2-month highs of 102 cents/gal FOB USG in the days following the plant shutdown, combined with the ongoing effects of heavy rainfall and flooding from Harvey, according to S&P Global data.
Market participants have more recently noted softening prices, as market conditions on the Texas Coast improve post-Harvey.
"Seems like Celanese's situation is improving," a VAM distributor said.
"I expect it (prices) will fall back, there was nothing to support it prior to the hurricane," an AA source said.
S&P Global Platts last assessed US spot methanol Wednesday at 97.25-97.75 cents/gal FOB USG for September and October.
S&P Global Platts last assessed US AA on September 14 at $765-$775/mt FOB USG/mt FOB USG, and US VAM at $1,170-$1,180/mt FOB USG.
The 1.3 million mt/year plant ranks as the largest in the US.
