When Vancouver-based methanol producer announced a temporary maintenance closure of its plant in Medicine Hat in May of 2001, it was only to last three months.
By the end of August however, the company announced it was closing the plant indefinitely, laying off or transferring the 95 employees who worked there.
“We believe it will be closed for an extended period, greater than one year for sure,” plant manager Kevin Henderson told the News at the time.
In the end the facility was mothballed for 12 years, reopening again in 2013.
The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat’s history leading up to the celebration of our 140th publishing year later this fall.
Natural gas prices were considered too high at the time to make viable the 470,000 tonnes of methanol the plant produced each day. However, those high prices were largely responsible for then premier Ralph Klein’s ability to see Alberta’s debt paid off.
The company began the process of reopening in the fall of 2010, a $40-million investment. At the the time the plant needed approximately 50,000 mmbtu of natural gas per day operating at capacity.
Bruce Aitken, then president and CEO of Methanex, said of the reopen, “We are delighted to be working on the restart of our plant in Medicine Hat, which offers a unique opportunity to capitalize on the attractive pricing dynamic between methanol and natural gas in that region.
“We believe that the current lower natural gas price environment in North America has made this plant a competitive new supply source for our customers. The project will add high-quality jobs to the region and is expected to be a very good investment for our shareholders.”
In November 2017 Methanex announced a joint deal with Painted Pony Petroleum that locked in a 14-year supply contract in Medicine Hat, good until 2032.
The deal would see Painted Pony sell up to 10,000 gigajoules per day to Methanex at a fixed price, then increase the volume to 50,000 per day in 2023 as other contracts expired.
