Negotiation deal finalised; Petronas’ Rapid project to receive US$7 billion in investment from Saudi Aramco

Negotiation deals have been finalised and Saudi Aramco has agreed to invest US$7 billion in Petronas’ Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development project (Rapid) project in Johor, Malaysia.

Minister in the Prime Minister Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan announced this recently at the opening of the Offshore Technology Conference Asia 2018.

“We expect the US$7 billion investment to be in by end of this month,” he said.

Last year, it was reported that both companies were facing “technical issues” in finalising the deal.

The government “is giving room to Petronas and Saudi Aramco to resolve several technical issues related to the investment agreement,”Malaysia’s state-owned news agency Bernama reported in November, without clarifying what those technical issues were.

The Rapid project is located in Pengerang in the Malaysian state of Johor. Its convenient location between the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea makes it a strategic place to deliver Middle East oil and gas bound for China, Japan and South Korea.

The mega project is expected to contain a 300,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery and a petrochemical complex with a capacity of 7.7 million metric tonnes a year. Refinery operations are set to begin in 2019, with petrochemical operations to follow 6-12 months afterwards.