Two new Methanol units are scheduled to start in 2019. They will be based one in America and the other Trinidad and Tobago. Mitsubishi is a major player in the Trinidad plant at La Brea, which is 470 miles from Jose, Venezuela, where the Japanese giant operates two Meter methanol plants. Aside from Venezuela’s current economic catastrophe in progress, another disadvantage to having plants in the South American country (according to a source close to the project) is that methanol shipped from there to the US is not duty-free. Methanol from Trinidad comes into the US duty-free while shipments from Venezuela are hit with a 5.5% import tax.
