VINACHEM

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Another huge methanol project is being planned for the Pacific Northwest, this one in Tacoma, Washington, sources said on Friday.

The multinational company, Northwest Innovation Works, that announced plans earlier this year to build two $1bn methanol plants in Oregon and Washington now wants to build a third $1.8bn plant at the Port of Tacoma, a port official said.

Port spokeswoman Tara Bettina said that the port commission on 1 May would consider a lease for the project at a site once occupied by a Kaiser aluminium smelter.

Spokespeople for Northwest Innovation could not be reached immediately on Friday.

All three projects would ship methanol made in the plants to China. The specific purpose would be to supply material to the Dalian Xishong Island Petrochemical Park in China, which would convert the methanol to olefins that would be used to make plastics and rubber.

Northwest Innovation is a joint venture backed by a Chinese government agency and BP.