Jacobs gets contract to engineer plant move from Chile to La.

Published Feb 7, 2012 at 10:18 am (Updated Feb 7, 2012)

Jacobs Engineering Group will provide engineering services for the planned move of a methanol plant from South America to Louisiana, under a new contract it has inked with Methanex Corp. The plant will be relocated to Geismar from Chile, and could be operational in the second half of 2014. The value of the contract was not disclosed. Jacobs says it's currently examining and preparing the 225-acre site in Geismar from its offices in Baton Rouge; Santiago, Chile; and Marble Arch, London. Methanex is the world's largest methanol maker. Plans to dismantle the idled Chilean factory and ship it to Louisiana—where it will be reassembled to capitalize on the lowest U.S. natural-gas prices in almost a decade—were announced last month. Relocation is cheaper and faster than building a new factory, Methanex CEO Bruce Aitken says. Reassembling the plant is expected to employ more than 1,000 people in Louisiana, and as many as 200 skilled workers will be needed to operate the factory.