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Alpek cutting off M&G over unpaid bills

Alpek also doubts M&G will complete a major new plant

by Alexander H. Tullo
September 18, 2017

The Mexican chemical company Alpek says it is cutting off raw material supply to the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin maker Mossi & Ghisolfi because of a nearly $50 million bill it is owed.

Alpek says a $49 million debt from M&G is past due. In response, Alpek is halting deliveries of the main PET raw material, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), to M&G’s sites in Altamira, Mexico, and Suape, Brazil.

Alpek also cast doubts about M&G’s ability to complete a massive new PET and PTA plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. That plant is to have more than 1 million metric tons of PET and 1.2 million metric tons of PTA capacity per year.

Alpek, which is also a major PET producer, has a contract for 500,000 metric tons of PET supply per year from the Corpus Christi plant when it is completed. “Alpek anticipates difficulties for M&G to conclude the project,” it said in a statement.

M&G says it is reviewing Alpek’s assertions. “The company is in active dialogue with its key stakeholders regarding its near term needs,” an M&G spokesperson said in a statement.

The M&G project has run into delays. In April, M&G disclosed that a contractor, Integrity Mechanical Specialists (IMS), walked off the job because of $50 million it says it was owed.

IMS filed a lien for $53 million against M&G with the Nueces, Texas, county clerk. C&EN attempted to reach IMS officials, but the company’s phone number has apparently been disconnected.

Other companies have filed liens as well. One of these firms, WFS Construction, has about $25 million liens it filed against M&G.

M&G hired a new contractor, Bay Ltd., to take IMS’s place. In April, M&G said it expected to complete the project by the middle of this year.

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