Malaysia’s Petronas to build $20 billion integrated refinery, petrochemical complex
Malaysia’s state-owned energy major Petronas will build a $20 billion integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex in Southern Johor, the company said on Friday.
The complex, still at the detailed feasibility study stage, will comprise a crude oil refinery with a 300,000 bpd capacity, a naphtha cracker that will produce about 3mn tonnes/year of ethylene, propylene, C4 and C5 olefins, and a petrochemicals and polymer complex that will produce differentiated and highly-specialized chemicals, according to Petronas officials.
Greater in scale and scope than that of Petronas’ Melaka, Kertih and Gebeng complexes combined, the proposed development is expected to turn Southern Johor into another major petroleum and petrochemical centre in the region, the company said.
The area was identified because of its strategic location, being near deepwater port facilities, international shipping lanes and regional demand centres. The project is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2016, officials said.
Petronas CEO Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas said: “Looking ahead, [the project] is expected to attract significant investments from international companies within and further down the business value chain, underscoring our long-standing practice of forming mutually beneficial partnerships.”
“We are proud to be involved in this new phase of nation-building to put Malaysia into a new frontier of technology and economic development,” he added.
The international companies’ participation and their corresponding technological expertise and presence in dynamic global markets are expected to help create an excellent training ground for locals, the company said.
This would not only benefit the new generation of oil and petrochemical professionals, but also the new breed of product scientists, engineers and businessmen who would further drive the growth of the sector, in line with the government’s aspiration to turn Malaysia into a regional leading petroleum industry center, officials said.
To support the development, Petronas said it is also considering building a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving and re-gasification terminal in the area.
The facility would not only support the energy needs of the complex but also contribute to the efforts to diversify the sources of gas supply to meet existing and future gas demand in peninsular Malaysia.
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