Yuhuang Chemical to invest $1.85bn in methanol complex

18 Jul '14

5 min read

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Yuhuang Chemical CEO Charlie Yao announced the company will make a $1.85 billion capital investment in a world-scale methanol manufacturing complex on the Mississippi River in St. James Parish. The project by Yuhuang Chemical Inc., a subsidiary of Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. Ltd., represents the first major foreign direct investment by a Chinese company in Louisiana.

Yuhuang Chemical will create 400 new direct jobs, with an average annual salary of $85,000, plus benefits. In addition, Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in 2,365 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 2,700 new jobs in the Southeast Region of Louisiana and surrounding areas of the state. At peak building activity, the company estimates the project will generate 2,100 construction jobs. Construction will begin in 2016, with the first phase of the methanol project beginning operations by 2018.

Governor Jindal said, “Following such historic foreign direct investment projects as Sasol in Southwest Louisiana and Benteler Steel/Tube in Northwest Louisiana, our state continues to raise the bar for attracting high-quality, world-class foreign direct investment projects. Foreign direct investment projects add great value to our state by creating high-paying jobs, increased levels of international trade and extraordinary career opportunities for the families of Louisiana.

"It’s no accident that we now have a record-high number of people working in Louisiana and companies from around the world continue to make huge investments in our state. Our efforts reforming government, lowering taxes, and improving our state’s business climate are paying off. Louisiana truly is becoming the best place in the world to live, work and raise a family.”

One of China’s leading chemical companies, Shandong Yuhuang Chemical recorded more than $4 billion in 2013 sales and employs more than 5,600 people worldwide. Its newly formed Yuhuang Chemical subsidiary will make its first major U.S. investment in St. James Parish, where it has secured an option to purchase more than 1,100 acres for a three-phase project next to the Plains All-American Pipeline terminal. After the first methanol plant is completed, the company will build a second methanol plant and reach an annual capacity of 3 million metric tons per annum of methanol.

A third phase will include a methanol derivatives plant that will produce intermediate chemicals. Most of the project’s methanol will be exported by oceangoing vessels for use in the parent company’s production of downstream chemicals in China, with approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of the methanol to be shipped by barge and rail and sold to North American customers.

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