Methanex Restarts 2nd Methanol Plant in New Zealand

Methanex Corporation has restarted its second methanol plant at its Motunui site in New Zealand and production also commenced . The addition of the second plant adds 650,000 tonnes of capacity per year and increases the Motunui site capacity to 1.5 million tonnes per year.

Bruce Aitken, President and CEO of Methanex commented, "We are delighted to announce the successful restart of a second Motunui plant. Our team in New Zealand did a first class job in starting this plant on schedule and at a very reasonable cost. The plant adds a competitive new supply source for our customers in the fast-growing Asian markets and is expected to generate strong returns for shareholders."

Mr. Aitken added, "With the improved natural gas supply position that has developed in New Zealand over the past several years, we have further opportunities to increase production by debottlenecking the Motunui site and potentially restarting our plant at the nearby Waitara Valley site."

About Methanex

Methanex is a Vancouver-based, publicly traded company and is one of the worlds largest supplier of methanol to major international markets. Methanex shares are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada under the trading symbol "MX"; on the NASDAQ Global Market in the United States under the trading symbol "MEOH"; and on the Foreign Securities Market of the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile under the trading symbol "Methanex".