Chinese Firm Buys Louisiana Land

Chinese petrochemical producer Shandong Yuhuang Chemical has completed the purchase of land in St. James, La., where it intends to build a methanol plant. The company says that it will soon commence work on the $1.85 billion, 1.7 million-metric-ton-per-year unit, which it intends to complete by 2018. YC also inked a 20-year agreement with Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line to deliver natural gas feedstock to the plant. In recent years, Chinese firms have unveiled U.S. methanol projects intended to convert cheap, shale-based gas into methanol and export it to China.