OCI to sell methanol unit to Methanex

Continuing its liquidation program, OCI Global has agreed to sell its methanol business to rival Methanex for nearly $2.1 billion. The company stands to rack up $11.6 billion in proceeds from this sale and other recently announced divestitures. Those include the sales of its Fertiglobe fertilizer joint venture stake to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., a US fertilizer plant to Koch Industries, and its US clean ammonia project to Woodside Energy. The deal with Methanex is for $1.2 billion in cash plus 13% of Methanex’s stock. The OCI business generated nearly $1.1 billion in sales in 2023. It operates a methanol and ammonia facility in Beaumont, Texas, and owns a methanol plant in Delfzijl, Netherlands, that is idle because of high prices for European natural gas. The OCI business also has a 50% interest in the Natgasoline joint venture with Proman that started up in Beaumont in 2018. But the future of that facility is subject to a lawsuit between the two partners. Methanex had sales last year of $3.7 billion. It says that the purchase will give it additional low-cost methanol production and a low-risk entry into the ammonia business.