May 22, 2012 Tuesday

Anuja Ravendran

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has signed heads of agreements (HoAs) for two new petrochemical ventures in the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) in Pengerang.

In a press release yesterday, it said the first HoA was signed with ITOCHU Corp, while the second was sealed with ITOCHU and PTT Global Chemical Public Co Ltd to jointly-own, develop, construct and operate two separate complexes for the production of high value-added downstream chemicals.

"Petronas will be the majority equity holder in both of the proposed joint-ventures (JVs) which will be part of the world-scale facilities to be developed within the RM60 billion Rapid complex," it said.

With these two HoAs, Petronas has to date signed three of such arrangements for Rapid including the one signed with BASF for the production of specialty chemicals in Rapid.

"Petronas is currently finalising the selection of other potential partners and licensors for the various facilities within Rapid," it said.

Both ITOCHU and PTT Global Chemical bring to the partnerships excellent track records and a wealth of experience and expertise that would significantly contribute towards strengthening Petronas and Malaysia's position as a key downstream player in the region, Petronas said.

ITOCHU, a Japanese listed company, is a global trading company with about 130 bases in 66 countries.

It is involved in the trading and marketing of various products including chemical products, as well as in investments in strategic sectors including the petrochemical business, it said.

Meanwhile, PTT Global Chemical is Thailand's largest integrated petrochemical and refining company and is listed on the Bangkok Stock Exchange.

The proposed Rapid project is so far the largest liquidbased greenfield downstream undertaking in Malaysia and it will have a 300,000 barrels per day refinery to supply the petrochemical complex, apart from producing a host of refined petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel that meet the Euro 4 and Euro 5 fuel specifications, Petronas said.

"The petrochemical component of the project will allow Petronas to expand its products portfolio from commodity petrochemicals to premium differentiated and specialty chemicals, capitalising on the growing demand for these higher value products in the Asia- Pacific region," it said.

At the signing ceremony, Petronas was represented by its chief operating officer (CEO) Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, who is also Petronas' executive vice president for downstream business.

ITOCHU was represented by its managing executive officer and president of the energy and chemicals company Yuji Fukuda while PTT Global Chemical was represented by its CEO Anon Sirisaengtaksin.

Copyright 2012 Syed Hussain Publications Sdn Bhd. All Rights Reserved.

(Originally published in the May 22, 2012, edition of The Malaysian Reserve.)