Phase 1 of Pengerang to be completed next year

JOHOR BARU: Phase 1 construction of the RM9 billion Pengerang independent deep water petroleum terminal is progressing well and is scheduled for commissioning in the second quarter (2Q) of next year.

Mohd Yazid Jaafar, CEO of Johor Petroleum Development Corp, said construction is 65% complete.

“Construction is on target and [Phase 1 is] slated for commissioning in the 2Q of next year,” he told Bernama.

The terminal, to be built in phases on 200ha of reclaimed land, will have a total storage capacity of five million cu m of petroleum. The project is being undertaken by Main Market-listed Dialog Bhd, Royal Vopak of the Netherlands and state-owned State Secretariat Inc. Phase 1 of the petroleum storage facility can store up to 1.3 million cu m of petroleum products.

Royal Vopak is the world’s largest independent tank storage provider.

Yazid said the project also includes a liquefied natural gas import terminal which the company plans to develop under Phase 2 of its master plan.

Johor Petroleum Development Corp, meanwhile, has clarified via Facebook numerous “misquotes and misreporting” on the participants and potential investors in its proposed Pengerang integrated petroleum complex.

It said the complex is being developed to create and add value to the country’s downstream oil and gas industry.

To date, two separate catalytic projects have been committed to within the complex — the terminal and the refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) project by Petroliam Nasionel Bhd (Petronas).

Apart from the two committed projects, Taiwan’s Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co (KPTC) has also indicated interest in investing in a refinery and petrochemical development project within the complex, the corporation said.

The proposed project by the Taiwan company is separate from the two projects being undertaken by Dialog-Royal Vopak-Johor government joint venture and Petronas’ Rapid.

Should it decide to proceed, KPTC’s investment is expected to be in the region of  US$13 billion (RM42.12 billion). It plans to build a 150,000 barrel per day crude naphtha cracker. — Bernama


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on August 6, 2013.