The global methanol industry leader Methanex has finalized the indefinite shutdown of its Titan methanol facility in Point Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago, formalizing a decision first announced last month over a failed natural gas contract renegotiation. Colin Bain, managing director and president of Methanex Trinidad and Tobago, confirmed to local outlet Express on Wednesday that production at the 860,000-tonne annual capacity plant ceased at the start of that day.
The shutdown has quickly become a flashpoint in national political discourse, with opposition figures from the People’s National Movement (PNM) directly blaming the incumbent administration led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of the United National Congress (UNC) for the outcome. Stuart Young, former prime minister and energy minister under the PNM, condemned the government’s negotiation approach in a public post Wednesday, calling the administration “incompetent and unsophisticated” for failing to strike a new commercial agreement before the plant’s existing gas contract expires this September. Young highlighted that the previous PNM government successfully maintained the sector through 10 years of negotiated agreements from 2015 to 2025, preserving thousands of jobs, critical foreign exchange earnings, and broader economic benefits. “In less than a year, the UNC has destroyed our energy sector, Who is winning?” Young wrote. As of Wednesday afternoon, incumbent Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal had not issued a public response to requests for comment on the shutdown.
Back on June 29, Vancouver-based Methanex first publicly confirmed its plan to idle the facility indefinitely, after failing to reach consensus on a new natural gas supply contract with the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC). The plant’s current supply agreement is set to expire at the end of September, and with no new deal in place, the company moved forward with the shutdown schedule. More than 100 employees currently work at the Titan plant, and company leadership confirmed they are prioritizing support for affected staff through the transition period.
Per the company’s official announcement, Methanex will implement a full plant preservation program to keep the facility viable for a potential future restart if market and regulatory conditions improve significantly. This is not the first Methanex facility in Trinidad and Tobago to be idled: the company’s 63.1% jointly owned Atlas methanol plant has remained in preserved idle status since 2024, after being idled previously in 2020 due to pandemic-driven demand collapse and temporarily restarted when Atlas was shut down. Titan is the second major international energy operator to wind down operations in Trinidad and Tobago in recent months; in October 2025, Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien launched a controlled shutdown of its Pt Lisas nitrogen operations, citing persistent natural gas supply unreliability and port access restrictions. Nutrien has since begun the process of selling off its Trinidad and Tobago assets.
Rich Sumner, president and chief executive officer of Methanex Corporation, framed the shutdown as a difficult but necessary decision to protect long-term shareholder value. “We have a long history in Trinidad and Tobago with an outstanding organisation that has played an important role in our company’s history,” Sumner said in a statement. “This difficult decision reflects our focus on preserving long-term shareholder value in a challenging environment where the structurally tight gas supply and demand balances in Trinidad and Tobago are making operations commercially unviable.”
Sumner added that the company had held extensive negotiations with both the national government and NGC ahead of the shutdown, acknowledging the entities’ ongoing work to address the country’s broader natural gas supply crunch. “We will monitor future developments closely, with a view to reassessing conditions and our position over the coming years,” he said, confirming that the company’s immediate focus is supporting its local team and completing the safe shutdown and preservation work.
As of the second quarter of 2026, Titan is not contributing to Methanex’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) or adjusted free cash flow. The company noted it does not expect to incur significant material cash costs from the shutdown decision, and will release any updated production or financial guidance alongside its regular second quarter earnings report scheduled for July 28, 2026. Methanex is the world’s largest methanol supplier, publicly traded on both the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker MEOH and the Nasdaq Stock Market in the United States.