Methanex to Idle New Zealand Methanol Plant Amid Declining Natural Gas Supply

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 1, Methanex entered into agreements with relevant parties to sell substantially all of its natural gas contract interests in New Zealand, with the sale arrangements commencing in the first quarter of 2027 and continuing until the related contracts expire at the end of 2030. As a result, the company expects to indefinitely idle its New Zealand methanol production facilities in the first quarter of 2027.

Methanex stated that it will continue to operate its existing facilities for the coming months prior to the completion of the idling, after which it will safely shut down and preserve the facilities to retain the possibility of restarting should conditions change in the future. The company expects no significant cash costs to result from this decision, and will update quarterly financial information should production or financial guidance need to be adjusted.

Methanex currently counts only one Motunui unit as operating capacity in New Zealand, with the other Motunui unit already idle. In the second quarter of 2026, methanol production from New Zealand operations was 46,000 tonnes, down from 158,000 tonnes in the first quarter; the company scheduled a winter shutdown in the second quarter and supplied natural gas to New Zealand's electricity market, with the unit restarting in July and operating at low utilization thereafter.

The New Zealand production system had previously been contracting. The Waitara Valley methanol plant was indefinitely idled in the first quarter of 2021; in September 2024, the company further adjusted the Motunui site to single-train operation, idling one of its production units, with both adjustments related to insufficient available natural gas supply. Prior to the 2024 adjustment, the combined annual operating methanol capacity of the two Motunui units was 1.7 million tonnes.