Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Aramco on Wednesday announced that it will establish a crude refinery and a full-fledged petrochemical complex in Malaysia in collaboration with the Kuala Lumpur-based Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas).
The two joint ventures (JVs) will allow the two firms to evenly own and participate in the operations of the fresh refinery and petrochemical facility, the Middle Eastern oil giant said, giving no further details on the cost of the projects.
Under this agreement, Aramco will provide about 50% of the refinery’s needs of crude feedstock that may be increased to 70%, while the Malaysian state energy firm will supply natural gas, power, and other utilities to the refinery.
The two companies will equally share the rights of buying or selling from the two projects’ productions, the world's largest oil producer noted.
With an output capacity of 300,000 crude oil barrels per day (bpd), the refinery will produce gasoline and diesel, which cope with Euro 5 fuel specifications, in addition to providing feedstock for the petrochemical complex.
While the complex will be able to produce 3.3 million tonnes of petrochemical products per annum, the statement showed.
Aramco said that 87% of the refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) project has been completed, expecting the refinery start-up in the first quarter of 2019.
The 6,239 -acre complex forms part of Malaysia’s economic scheme to boost the Asian country’s economy, especially in technology and oil and gas downstream sectors.
“Through this venture, we will also achieve a high degree of integration between refining and petrochemicals, with petrochemicals production greater than 20% of crude intake,” Aramco’s senior vice president of downstream Abdulaziz Judaimi said.
