<article><p class="lead">Malaysian state-owned refiner Petronas is maintaining a shutdown of its No.1 methanol unit in Labuan with no restart dates yet been set. </p><p>The unit, which can produce 750,000 t/yr of methanol, was taken off line on 13 January because of technical issues. </p><p>Petronas's No.2 unit at Labuan, producing 1.65mn t/yr of methanol, is in the process of restarting production following a disruption that started in mid-December 2019. The producer expects this unit will stabilize output by the first week of February. </p><p>The shutdowns have seen methanol spot prices in southeast Asia rise in the past two weeks, with Argus last assessing prices on 24 January at $310-330/t cfr southeast Asia. </p><p class="lead"><i>By Mahua Chakravarty</i></p></article>
