RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Methanol Chemicals Co. anticipates that work on its $80 million methanol plant expansion project in Jubail will be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year after facing delays. In a filing with the Saudi Stock Exchange, the company – known as Chemanol – revealed front-end engineering and design work on the facility was 95 percent complete. The work was initially due to be finished by the end of 2022, but it faced delays due to the “late submission” of required information from manufacturers, according to the firm. Once complete, Chemanol intends to expand the output capacity to 331,000 tons a year. “Any material development in this regard will be announced in due course in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations,” the company explained. In January 2022, Chemanol signed an agreement for preliminary engineering design for the expansion project, with an expected feed completion date in the fourth quarter of 2022. The scope of work on the project includes installation of a feed/effluent heat exchange system; installation of cooling and compression equipment for the product stream; installation of a dryer; and construction of associated facilities. On March 1, 2020, Chemanol obtained the Ministry of Energy’s approval for allocating the required feedstock to expand the methanol plant and increase its annual output by 100,000 tons. Chemanol is one of the world’s most integrated and reliable global producers of methanol and derivatives. It is also one of the world’s largest formaldehyde producers situated in a single location, and the biggest producer in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The company’s ambition, as part of its growth strategy, is to become one of the most competitive producers of methanol and its derivatives in the region. Chemanol was originally established in 1989 as the Saudi Formaldehyde Chemicals Co., the first private sector petrochemicals company in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The company changed its name following a successful initial public offering in 2008. It is a public Saudi joint-stock company located in the Kingdom’s Jubail Industrial City. Chemanol has previously stated that it has a total production capacity of nearly 1 million tons a year, and exports 26 product grades to over 50 countries in more than 21 different industries.