MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Methanex in Punta Arenas will search for its own natural gas

The world's leading and largest producer of methanol, Methanex Corporation said Monday that it had joined Wintersall from Germanay and GeoPark Holdings to bid for natural gas concessions in the extreme south of Chile.

The three companies are considering bidding for ten exploration blocks that Chile is offering in the Magellan basin, close to Methanex's plant in Punta Arenas and the block already in production Fell from GeoPark, it was reported. Chilean Mining Minister Karen Poniachik said last week that the official policy is to encourage corporations to develop natural gas reserves in the region in an effort to become less dependent on Argentine provision. The on shore and off shore concessions to be tendered cover an area between 1.254 and 6.761 square kilometers and the process is scheduled for the beginning of October. Methanex said the agreement represents an aligning of interests for the three companies. GeoPark, currently the only private sector producer of natural gas and Wintersall, a division from BASF AG already supply the Methanex plant.