Methanol Quarterly Business Update - Q3 2016

This report contains analysis of current capacity, pricing and profitability developments in the methanol industry over the past quarter.  The ‘Key Challenges’ section discusses the use of methanol within fuel.  In recent years methanol’s application in fuel has created significant interest.  Blending methanol into gasoline for use in cars has been explored on a regional basis in China for many years, and in 2016 Israel has become the first country outside of China to pursue and implement a blend of 15 percent methanol (M15) for commercial use.  Outside of gasoline applications, there is also growing interest in using methanol as shipping fuel, with Stena Line operating ships that run on Methanol, and Methanex exploring using methanol itself as a fuel when shipping methanol globally.  Methanol provides attractive properties to reduce toxic emissions from combustion engines.  With greater attention towards using methanol more directly in fuel applications, this section looks at what role MTBE can play in the future.