Canadian methanol producer Methanex has restarted its North Taranaki plant at reduced capacity, but the impending closure of the Māui gas field still threatens to shut down the operation entirely by the end of the year.
The restart follows a scheduled winter outage.
Austrian energy company OMV advised the government in April that it expects the Māui gas field to cease production by the end of 2026. Methanex relies heavily on the offshore field to power its operations.
Chief executive Rich Sumner told analysts in May that the Motunui site will close if the gas stops flowing. "If that happens, we would no longer be capable of running our plant," Sumner said.
Sector co-regulator Gas Industry Co confirmed the severity of the supply shortage. Chief executive David Prentice recently stated that the potential loss of Methanex would mark another step in the de-industrialisation of gas-intensive manufacturing in New Zealand.
Despite the local supply fears, Methanex posted a global net income of $198 million for the second quarter of 2026.
The company's second-quarter management report, released on July 28, noted future New Zealand output depends on well performance, upstream development, and the on-selling of gas to support the national electricity market.
Methanex remains New Zealand's sole methanol manufacturer and exports about 95% of its product to the Asia Pacific region. The business previously mothballed its smaller Waitara Valley facility in 2021 due to restricted gas supplies.
