OREANDA-NEWS. China Coal Mengda New Energy is delaying its methanol-to-olefins (MTO) project at Ordos in Inner Mongolia by at least two months to early next year because of a slower approval progress.

Mengda has not yet obtained a necessary certificate from the local government for water supplies. The 600,000 t/yr MTO project was previously planned for a start-up in late October or early November this year.

The company has not built any new methanol plants with the MTO project and will need to buy additional 1.2mn t/yr methanol from the market beyond its captive 600,000 t/yr methanol plant. The company has been preparing for the Ordos MTO start-up since late September and has already stocked up on about 40,000t of methanol.