A British Columbia-based company has announced plans to build a $1.9 billion plant in Sarnia, Ontario, to convert natural gas to gasoline, the Lambton Shield newspaper reported Saturday.

Michael Ainsworth, president of Ainsworth Energy, said the new facility will first convert natural gas into methanol, and then convert the methanol into gasoline, Kallanish Energy learns.

Roughly 75% of the plant will be used for the natural gas to methanol conversion process, the Shield reported.

The original natural gas-to-methanol-to-gasoline technology was developed roughly four decades ago and used in New Zealand in the 1980s. But high natural gas prices doomed that venture, according to the Shield.

Since then, prices for natural gas have made it competitive with crude oil. Ainsworth said the business case for the new plant will rely on natural gas remaining “relatively inexpensive as compared to oil.” Essentially, he said, the new plant’s production would be displacing imported fuel.

Sarnia’s plant will be similar in size and technology to a plant already operating in Asia, according to Ainsworth.

Shared infrastructure available in Sarnia is seen by Ainsworth as particularly advantageous for this project, which would employ roughly 50 people after 30 months of construction.