The average spot price of methanol in the US for November was $1.2701/gal FOB US Gulf, the highest spot average since September 2008 when it was $1.40/gal FOB US Gulf.
This is an increase of 4.15 cents, or 3.37%, from October's average spot price of $1.2286/gal FOB US Gulf.
The consistently high spot prices have been seen as the result of continued production outages in Trinidad, sources said. Trinidad is the origin of the majority of the methanol in the US market.
Three consecutive plant turnarounds in September and October were scheduled to coordinate with maintenance at two of Trinidad's gas platforms, which provide feedstock to the methanol units.
The scheduled turnarounds were followed November 15 by a blackout which led to an outage of all methanol production in the Port Lisas Industrial Complex, which is the home to seven methanol production facilities, Platts reported previously, citing industry sources.
