Saudi Aramco, Petronas consider expansions in Malaysia

Saudi Aramco and Malaysian state-owned Petronas are considering building more petrochemical plants to fully use raw materials from their joint venture, Reuters reported Monday, citing Md Arif Mahmood, executive vice president and CEO of downstream operations at Petronas.

The planned projects include chemicals and synthetic rubber, Mahmood said, speaking at an industry event.

Saudi Aramco inked an agreement in February this year to invest $7 billion in the Malaysia-based Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID), boosting its downstream operations ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) next year.

The deal would give Aramco a 50 percent stake in RAPID’s refinery and cracker project.

The naphtha cracker could produce about 600,000 tonnes of butadiene, which could be used to produce elastomers or synthetic rubber, said Abdulaziz Al Judaimi, senior vice president of downstream at Saudi Aramco.