Alpek cutting off M&G over unpaid bills – Alpek Mossi Ghisolfi - Arhive

The Mexican chemical company Alpek says it is cutting off raw material supply to the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin maker Mossi & Ghisolfi because of a nearly $50 million bill it is owed.

Alpek says a $49 million debt from M&G is past due. In response, Alpek is halting deliveries of the main PET raw material, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), to M&G’s sites in Altamira, Mexico, and Suape, Brazil.

Alpek also cast doubts about M&G’s ability to complete a massive new PET and PTA plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. That plant is to have more than 1 million metric tons of PET and 1.2 million metric tons of PTA capacity per year.

Alpek, which is also a major PET producer, has a contract for 500,000 metric tons of PET supply per year from the Corpus Christi plant when it is completed. “Alpek anticipates difficulties for M&G to conclude the project,” it said in a statement.

M&G says it is reviewing Alpek’s assertions. “The company is in active dialogue with its key stakeholders regarding its near term needs,” an M&G spokesperson said in a statement.

The M&G project has run into delays. In April, M&G disclosed that a contractor, Integrity Mechanical Specialists (IMS), walked off the job because of $50 million it says it was owed.

IMS filed a lien for $53 million against M&G with the Nueces, Texas, county clerk. C&EN attempted to reach IMS officials, but the company’s phone number has apparently been disconnected.

Other companies have filed liens as well. One of these firms, WFS Construction, has about $25 million liens it filed against M&G.

M&G hired a new contractor, Bay Ltd., to take IMS’s place. In April, M&G said it expected to complete the project by the middle of this year.