The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Marubeni Corporation, Baltic Gas Chemical Company and Invasta Capital signed a trading and investment cooperation memorandum regarding the construction of a new methanol production plant in Ust-Luga port area. The agreement was signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the project envisages the construction of a plant to produce methanol from natural gas with a capacity of 1.7 mn tons per annum and an export terminal in the port of Ust-Luga industrial zone.
The parties have also reached an agreement for Marubeni’s assistance in attracting a loan facility from Japanese financial institutions linked to the EPC contract with the Japanese engineering company.
According to Grigory Omelchenko, MD of Baltic Gas Chemical Company, the plant is to be built in accordance with the most modern and safe technology, and it will be one of the world’s largest single-train methanol plants. “ Yje huge experience of Marubeni Corporation at the global chemical markets will be highly useful to effectively sale methanol from our plant”, he added.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, noted: “Russia has large reserves of natural resources which creates a sustainable competitive advantage in terms of raw materials. However, if compared to other oil and gas exporting countries, we produce substantially less chemical products, including methanol. The volumes of gas utilization in methanol in Russia are the lowest among the leaders in gas production, and the potential of this sector is still not realized”.