Brunei Methanol plant

Historic day as His Majesty opens Brunei Methanol plant
As one of the shareholders, ITOCHU Corporation since its establishment has practised the policy of 'Sanpou-yoshi' which means 'Good for the buyer, Good for the seller and Good for the Society'. The policy has since been adapted in the current Corporate Credo of 'ITOCHU', committed to the global good, social, economic and individual benefits. Therefore they hope to uphold the spirit of 'Sanpou-yoshi' through the participation of this project.

After the speeches, His Majesty consented to officiate the opening of Brunei's first methanol plant by activating a device to lift the methanol symbol from the display chrome casing. As His Majesty marked history with the official launching, the Japanese drum (Wadaiko) and Hadrah were played in the background to highlight the economic and strong relationship between Brunei and Japan.

His Majesty then signed the commemorative plaque to signify the official opening.

Later, the ruler toured the methanol plant, which included the central control room where the ruler was briefed by BMC Chief Executive Officer about the process of production.

The nation's first methanol plant is a joint venture between Brunei National Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd, holding half of the share, and two leading Japanese companies MGC and Itochu Corporation, each of them holding a 25 per cent share.

The US$600 million BMC is the largest investment in Brunei outside of oil and gas and is the first tenant in the Sungai Liang industrial site.

The plant is capable of producing 2,500 metric tonnes per day or 850,000 metric tonnes of methanol per year for export to markets in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia as well as India and the United States.

For the production of methanol, BSP will supply an average of 2.3 million cubic feet of gas per day for the next 22 years under an agreement.

The plant currently employs 172 Bruneian staff including three expatriates. Almost 70 per cent of all job positions in the plant are technical based.

Methanol is an important primary material for chemical industries as it has great potential to develop into wide varieties of derivatives, which could be moulded into tough, durable plastic parts such as hardware materials or parts for LCD television screens among others