Malaysian state oil firm Petronas has begun trial runs of the CDU at the 300,000 b/d rapid JV refinery in the southern Johor province, according to Reuters. Saudi Aramco is equal partner with Petronas in the project, having paid $7bn in 2017. The partners are looking to reach full commercial operations by March.
rapid last week took delivery of a second 2mn barrel crude cargo, in this case all Saudi crude rather than half each of Saudi Arabian medium and Iraqi Basra light as in the first delivery, which arrived in September. Aramco has the option to supply up to 70% of the refinery’s feedstock. The partners plan to integrate 3.3mn t/y of petchems capacity with the project long-term. Aramco is targeting overseas refineries with options for integrating petchems as part of an expansion strategy that will see downstream operations becoming “just as significant as our upstream” (MEES, 4 January). (CONTINUED - 149 WORDS)