Jacobs lands contract to engineer and build Methanex facility in La.

Published Aug 14, 2012 at 10:15 am (Updated Aug 14, 2012)

Jacobs Engineering Group announced this morning that it has been awarded a contract from Methanex Corp., the world's largest methanol supplier to major international markets, to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a $550 million methanol production facility in Geismar. Financial terms of the contract were not released. The plant is relocating from Santiago, Chile. In February, Jacobs was awarded a contract to engineer the plant move. Financial terms of that deal were also kept private. Though the firm is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., it is working on the plant move and construction from its offices in Baton Rouge and Santiago. The plant is expected to be operational in the second half of 2014. 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 in January. 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.