MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine gas cuts limit Punta Arenas methanol plant

Metanex plant located in Magallanes, XII Region

Canada's Methanex Corporation said Wednesday that the provision of Argentine natural gas for its methanol plants in the extreme south of Chile remains limited in spite of the fact that the “technical problems” alleged by suppliers have been solved.

Only one of the four processing modules of Methanex in Punta Arenas is currently producing. Company officials said they are holding conversations with suppliers. Methanex which is the world's largest producer of methanol said that clients are being supplied from inventories, plants in other parts of the world and even with small volume purchases. Methanex has been forced to work below potential for several years running because Argentina's policy has been to privilege its domestic market when peak consumption in winter and summer, thus cutting provisions to neighboring countries, particularly Chile. This winter Argentine natural gas supply has been even scarcer because of the severe cold and below zero temperatures. Methanex revealed that Argentine suppliers had notified that all their natural gas pipeline transport capacity was being used to pump the fuel north to Buenos Aires and other important cities. Methanex is also involved in gas exploration operations in the south of Chile with the purposed of making their plant less dependent on Argentine supplies.