Petrochemical companies do the work that alternative energy cannot

Fuel Fix:
The Houston chemical company G2X Energy Inc. said Wednesday it’s buying half of what’s expected to become the nation’s largest methanol plant in Beaumont.

G2X said it is paying $680 million, including a $50 million loan, to acquire its stake in the Natgasoline methanol plant from the Dutch firm OCI N.V., which will maintain the other 50 percent stake. OCI announced the more than $1 billion methanol project in 2013, and it’s slated for completion in late 2017.

G2X is a subsidiary of Consolidated Energy Limited — the world’s second-largest methanol producer — that’s owned by the German-and-Swiss-based Proman Group and Germany’s Helm AG.

Methanol is a chemical used in a wide range of products, including paint, glue, plastics and formaldehyde. Methanol is one of the primary derivatives of natural gas, of which there are cheap and ample supplies thanks to the U.S. shale boom. The U.S. used to import 90 percent of its methanol, he said, and now it’s becoming a net exporter.  (Emphasis added.)
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The Big Green anti-energy left has no alternative to  the petrochemical business.  Even electric cars need plastics for lightweight features to make up for the heavy batteries they are required to carry.  Also, note how the shale boom for natural gas has turned around the trade deficit for the products made from natural gas.  In the process it has created jobs in the construction idustry and permanent jobs in the facilities being built.

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