Saudi Arabia

Duke Energy owns a 17 percent economic interest with a 25 percent voting interest in National Methanol Company (NMC), a 50/50 partnership between Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and CTE Petrochemicals Company (CTE). CTE is a 50/50 partnership between Celanese Corporation and Duke Energy.

NMC is located in Al-Jubail Industrial City in the Eastern province on the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. NMC produces methanol and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive that reduces the emission of carbon monoxide from vehicles.

The NMC methanol operations began in 1984, and in 1994 the company began production of MTBE. Today, the company produces approximately 1 million metric tons per year of MTBE and methanol. The main feedstocks used to produce these products are natural gas and butane.

In 2011, NMC began designing and constructing a 50,000-ton facility in Saudi Arabia to produce polyacetal (POM) – an engineering thermoplastic used to make precision parts. It was completed in 2018.