PETRONAS（Petroliam Nasional Bhd）　 　　　　　　http://www.petronas.com.my/

PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Bhd, is Malaysia's national petroleum corporation incorporated on 17 August 1974. Wholly-owned by the Government, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and entrusted with the responsibility of developing and adding value to these resources. PETRONAS has since its inception grown into a fully integrated oil and gas entity engaged in a broad spectrum of petroleum and related value-adding business activities in both the upstream and downstream sectors. Today, with over 100 subsidiaries and associated companies, the PETRONAS Group operates in 25 countries around the world and is ranked among the Fortune Global 500 companies.

At Home
In Malaysia, PETRONAS' petrochemical activities are concentrated along the Eastern Corridor of Peninsular Malaysia within the Kertih Integrated Petrochemical Complex and the Gebeng Integrated Petrochemical Complex.

While the production of certain basic petrochemicals has been phased in since the mid 1980s, PETRONAS has more recently embarked on large scale petrochemical projects with multinational joint venture partners. In undertaking such projects, PETRONAS seeks joint venture partners that possess the appropriate technology, financing capability, and marketing and distribution expertise.

PETRONAS　Plants & Projects

International Operating Plants & Projects　　

(2002/2/14 Chemnet Tokyo）

マレーシア・オプティマルが稼動開始　エチレン年産６０万トン、全て自消が前提

　エチレンセンタ−や大手商社によると、マレーシアの新興石油化学企業のオプティマルは先週半ばから年産６０万トンのエチレンプラントの稼動を開始した。
　
　同プラントは、エタンとプロパンを原料とする最新鋭大型装置で、同社では昨年１２月末に完成したあとただちにスタートアップすることにしていたが、小トラブルの解消に手間取り、操業開始が大幅に遅れていたもの。
　
　今回の稼動開始に伴い、同２５万５，０００トン能力のＨＰ−ＬＤＰＥプラントと同３８万トンのＥＯ・Ｇ装置、さらには同１４万トン能力の２エチルヘキサノール設備なども試運転に入りつつある模様。軌道に乗れば６０万トンのエチレンは全て自消されることになる。ただし、エチレンプラントの操業率はまだ低水準にとどまっており、全てのプラントが営業運転に入れる時期はもう少し先になると見る向きが周囲には多い。
　
　同プラントの操業が軌道に乗ると、ＵＡＥ、オランダ、米国、マレーシアの４地域で昨年末に相次いで新設された大型エチレン装置４基が全て営業運転入りすることになる。

2003/1/7 Financial Times

BASF Petronas' butanediol plant to start operations in Q1

BASF Petronas Chemicals Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian-German joint venture, expects its butanediol facility in Gebeng, Pahang, to begin operations in the first quarter of this year. A BASF Petronas Chemical official said the butanediol facility, comprising two plants, will produce 100,000 tonnes of butanediol, tetrahydrofurane and g-butyrolactore every year. This is BASF Petronas Chemicals' third and last phase of its RM3.4 billion investment in the chemicals-based complex, which comprises 12 plants in Gebeng. The first phase of the project - an acrylic monomer facility - started operations in July 2000, with four plants producing 160,000 tonnes a year of acrylic acid, which is marketed as butylacrylate, 2-ethylhexycrylate and glacial acrylic acid. The second facility - Oxo/Syngas - became fully operational in April 2001, comprising six plants producing 250,000 tonnes per year of syngas and oxo, 100,000 tonnes of plasticisers and 40,000 tonnes of phthalic anhydride. With the startup of the butanediol facility, the official said, the combined capacity of BASF Petronas' complex would be more than one million tonnes of such chemicals per year. "The plant in Gebeng will export more than 80 per cent of its production to countries in the Asia-Pacific region, with the remaining volume sold to customers in Malaysia," the official told Business Times. He said BASF Petronas Chemicals' facilities in Gebeng is based on the "verbund" concept which, when translated from German means "integration". "By integrating or linking the manufacturing plants, products and by- products from one plant are used as raw materials in other plants. "Therefore, verbund is cleverly turning by-products to value products that are utilised within this integrated system. That is why all plants are located as closely as possible to one another in Gebeng," the official said. The official said such an approach gives the firm a unique competitive advantage as it makes optimal use of energy and materials in chemical processes. "There are both ecological and economic advantages. For one, energy and raw materials are employed more efficiently and transport is reduced to a minimum," he added. The 150ha verbund site comprises 12 plants built in three phases, producing acrylic monomers, oxo products and butanediol, along with the port tank farm. "When completed, the site will be one of the largest in the Asia Pacific," the official said. The Gebeng chemical manufacturing plant is the only verbund site in South-East Asia. The other one in Asia is in Nanjing, China. In Europe, the verbund sites are in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium. In the US, they are in Freeport, Texas, and Geismar, Louisiana. The official said BASF chose to invest in Gebeng because of Malaysia's political stability and support from both the federal and state governments. Also, Gebeng is a suitable plant site due to its strategic location for availability and extraction of crucial raw materials such as gas from Petronas' gasfields in the South China Sea. The company also chose Gebeng because of the availability of a suitable workforce, its easy access to Kuantan Port, strategic location and accessibility to key Asian markets to ensure efficiency and responsiveness to customers. BASF Petronas Chemicals currently employs 841 staff at Gebeng, with about 90 per cent of them locas. Most of the raw materials used for the company's operations are sourced locally as well. BASF Petronas Chemicals is a joint venture between BASF AG of Germany and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) on a 60:40 partnership. It was set up in 1997.

Platts --2002/10/15

Malaysia Petlin starts PE commercial sales, plant steady

Malaysia's Petlin Sdn Bhd is producing polyethylene steadily and has finally started commercial sales, a source close to the company said Wednesday. Its 255,000 mt/yr low density PE plant at Kertih was supposed to have started commercial shipments in January this year but was delayed numerous times due to multiple severe mechanical problems.
Petlin sources ethylene feedstock from the neighboring Optimal Olefins which has a 600,000 mt/yr ethylene plant. Petlin's PE plant is believed to be currently operating at around 85% capacity. Petlin plans to market its PE locally and via exports to China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and Africa.

2003-8-27 Asia Chemical Weekly

Malaysia to boost synthetic rubber output

The Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida) is keen to attract investments in butadiene derivatives to produce more synthetic rubber, according to industry sources.

An industry source said one area of business that Mida would like to promote is styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), since this would complement Malaysia's natural rubber production. The source said the Malaysian government would like to see a 60:40 mix between natural and synthetic rubber production in the country.

Malaysia is a major producer of natural rubber, but production has not increased significantly in the last few years as many rubber plantations have switched to the more profitable palm oil business. Malaysia has even started importing latex, he added.

The only synthetic rubber producer in Malaysia is Synthomer, based in Kluang, Johor, which started producing synthetic latex last year.

Currently, Titan Petrochemicals is the only cracker operator in Malaysia which produces crude butadiene, produced from its two naphtha-based crackers in Pasir Gudang, Johor. The company either sells its output or recycles it. Titan is looking to expand its capacities and is studying adding value to its crude butadiene stream, although these plans have not been firmed up.

Titan considered building a butadiene extraction unit in 2000 as part of a broader plan to invest in value-added projects, although the project failed to materialise. Had the project moved forward, Titan would have supplied butadiene to Taiwan Synthetic Rubber Co (TSRC), which had received Mida's approval for an SBR project.

TSRC said earlier that the SBR project would only have been possible only if Titan had moved ahead with its butadiene project.

2004/9/23 Business Times

Petronas to triple methanol capacity
http://www.btimes.com.my/Thursday/Frontpage/20040922233841/Article/pp_index_html

PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) will be investing over RM1 billion to more than triple its methanol producing capacity in Labuan, in anticipation of stronger global demand as well as the coming onstream of new gas fields.

A new plant capable of producing 1.7 million tonnes of methanol a year, or about 5,000 tonnes a day, is being planned to begin operations by the end of 2007.

Sources said the plant, which is expected to cost over US$300 million (US$1 = RM3.80), will be located adjacent to an existing one that has an annual methanol producing capacity of 660,000 tonnes a year.

Both these plants, with a combined output of more than 2.3 million tonnes a year, are expected to turn Labuan into one of the major producers of methanol in the world.

Petronas, in a statement yesterday, said the plant will also provide job and business opportunities, especially for Sabahans.

Sources said that while the funding has yet to be finalised, Petronas is expected to finance the project from a combination of internal sources as well as borrowings.

Feedstock of about 150 million standard cu ft per day of gas will be supplied from gas fields offshore Sabah.

Petronas is building the new plant in anticipation of new gas fields offshore Sabah that were recently discovered. They are expected to come onstream by 2007.

The national oil corporation said the new plant will use Lurgi’s Mega Methanol technology.

The larger capacity is also to take into account stronger demand for the gas distillate, which has a lot of industrial spin-offs.
Methanol produced from the new plant will be supplied to the domestic market as well as the growing markets in South-East Asia, North-East Asia and India.

Methanol is a chemical building block used to produce formaldehyde, acetic acid and a variety of other chemical intermediates.

It is also used to make methyl tertiary butyl ether, an oxygenate used in cleaner burning petrol.

Other uses of methanol form the basis for many products, including silicones, refrigerants, adhesives, specialty plastics and coatings, textiles and water treatment chemicals.