Chinese petrochemical firm brushes aside escalating trade war as it doubles bet on US$1.9 billion Louisiana methanol plant
- Shandong Yuhuang Chemical has invested US$1.85 billion in a methanol plant in St James Parish, which is 60 per cent complete
- The company says it will announce plans to double the plant’s capacity as soon as this year
Chinese petrochemical firm Shandong Yuhuang Chemical is planning to double the capacity of a US$1.9 billion methanol plant currently under construction in St James Parish, Louisiana, despite a full-fledged trade war between the two countries.
“We are definitely considering building a second phase,” said Charlie Yao, president and chief executive of YCI Methanol One, the US subsidiary of Shandong Yuhuang, on the sidelines of an investment conference in Washington earlier this month.
“The project will be launched probably in the second half of this year or next year.”
The plan is to replicate the plant currently under construction, he said, which will become one of the world’s largest methanol facilities with a production capacity of about 1.7 million metric tonnes a year.
Yao did not disclose the cost of the new project or the company’s investment.