Syngas plans $360MM methanol plant in Louisiana

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Syngas Energy CEO Vas Kenyen announced that the company plans to make a $360 million capital investment in a methanol plant in St. James Parish, Louisiana.

Located on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the project site is approximately 10 miles south of the Sunshine Bridge. Houston-based Syngas Energy would create 86 new direct jobs, with an average annual salary of $78,600, plus benefits. 

Louisiana Economic Development (LED) estimates the project would result in an additional 508 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 590 new jobs in the region and surrounding areas. The company estimates the project also would generate more than 800 construction jobs at peak building activity.

After securing permits and making a final investment decision, Syngas anticipates beginning construction in the second quarter of 2016, with completion expected at the end of 2018 and an initial production capacity of 500,000 tpy.

Syngas will purchase 130 acres from NuStar Energy, which operates a major crude oil terminal and logistics complex on the Mississippi River, with a capacity of 11 million bbl. NuStar also has storage and shipping capabilities for specialty liquids, such as methanol, at the St. James site, where NuStar will provide rail and barge transportation services for the Syngas project. 

Syngas will also build additional storage capacity on its site for truck shipping of its product.

“We are happy to announce that we have decided to build and operate a 500,000-tons-per-year methanol plant in St. James Parish,” said Kenyen, citing plans to increase production to 700,000 tpy in a later phase. “We decided to build in Louisiana because it has a high-quality skilled workforce, a good business climate, an abundant supply of natural gas, a large network of pipelines to transport the feedstock required by our operation, facilities such as fabrication shops within a 50-mile radius -- and the location offers the ability to ship the product by waterways through the Port of South Louisiana.” 

Syngas Energy plans to begin hiring additional senior management for the project in the first quarter of 2016, with broad hiring of operators and other plant functions beginning in the third quarter of 2017.