The US methanol August contract rose to 137-138 cents/gal, the highest point for the monthly range since November 2008, according to posted prices issued by two major producers during the week ended 29 July.
Spot barge prices continued to move up, reaching 118-120 cents/gal by the end of the week. Sources cited the recent outage at Methanex’s Atlas plant in Trinidad as a big reason for the move.
Some buyers expected an increase, though the 10-11 cents/gal hike came as a surprise to most of them. One buyer said Methanex took advantage of the troubles at its Atlas plant in Trinidad.
Methanex’s posted price for August was 138 cents/gal, and Southern Chemical Corp. (SCC)’s was 137 cents/gal.
Their increases came after six straight months of rollovers at 126-128 cents/gal and shocked some buyers and traders. Some had expected a smaller raise, based on recent plant and gas supply issues in Trinidad.
One buyer attributed the nomination mostly to recent planned and unplanned outages at Methanex’s 1.7m tonnes/year Atlas plant in Trinidad and talk of more gas curtailments there.
A source in Trinidad close to National Gas, the country’s state-owned gas supplier, said there were no planned curtailments for August.
A buyer said the upcoming 10-25% gas curtailment would stem from work being done by a methanol producer on the National Gas grid in Trinidad.
Gas curtailments have plagued methanol and ammonia plants at the Point Lisas chemical complex for most of this year, with the last curtailment ending in May.
The August posting was one of Methanex’s largest contract hikes in two years, and the largest since it posted a raise of 25 cents/gal in November 2010.
Methanex and Southern Chemical Corp (SCC) typically set the monthly North American contract methanol range with their nominations.
The August methanol contract average of 137.5 cents gal is the highest US monthly methanol range since 143.25 cents/gal in November 2008.
($1 = €0.70)
This week in ICIS news ( www.icis.com ):
29-Jul-11 21:12 Eastman's Sterling purchase to keep long-term acetic tie with BP
29-Jul-11 00:22 US methanol contract prices almost reach 3-year high on outages
28-Jul-11 23:05 US Methanex says outages, supply issues raising methanol prices
28-Jul-11 05:20 Methanex Q2 net profit nearly triples on strong methanol prices
27-Jul-11 19:50 Methanex nominates 138 cents/gal for August US methanol, up 8%
