Aramco, Petronas near start-up of Malaysia’s RAPID refinery
Malaysia, is preparing for official start-up of Pemgerang Refining & Petrochemical (PRefChem) subsidiary Pengerang Refining Company Sdn Bhd’s 300,000-b/d refinery and petrochemical integrated development (RAPID) project.
Mechanical completion at PIC’s RAPID project was achieved on the 29th November 2018, and all critical units under contractor Petrofac Ltd’s scope have now started commissioning activities in advance of the fire up of the refinery’s crude distillation unit later this month, the service provider said.
Petronas previously let a Petrofac International (UAE) LLC and Petrofac E&C Sdn Bhd to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning for the RAPID refinery’s amine recovery units, sulphur recovery units, sour water stripping units, liquid sulphur storage unit, and sulphur solidification units.
This latest announcement follows delivery of the first cargo of two million bbl of crude supplied by Petronas and Aramco to the site in September 2018 which was to be used for commissioning and testing activities at the refinery in October.
Situated on part of the Malaysian government’s 22,000-acre Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex 400 kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur, the RAPID refinery, once in operation, will produce a range of refined petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel, that meet Euro 5-quality fuel specifications to help Asia Pacific’s growing need for petroleum and petrochemical products, as well as naphtha-LPG feedstock for its 3.3 million-tpy integrated cracker and downstream petrochemical complex.
PRefChem is an alliance of Petronas and Aramco which includes the two joint ventures Pengerang Refining and Pengerang Petrochemical Company Sdn Bhd.
Source: Oil & Gas Journal