Petronas signs deal to lease LNG storage unit to Vitol

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and a consortium led by Japan's JXTG Holdings Inc are among the companies interested in buying a stake in India's Bina oil refinery, a source close to the matter said.

SINGAPORE: Petroliam Nasional has signed a deal to lease a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage unit in the country to commodity trader Vitol for at least two years, industry sources told Reuters.

Under the agreement, Petronas will rent one of its two 200,000 cubic metre LNG storage units at Pengerang in southern Malaysia to Vitol, the sources said, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with media.

The lease is for at least two years and will likely start in the second-half of 2019, one of the sources said, adding that the other unit in Pengerang would be set aside for domestic use.

The sources did not give any other details, while Petronas and Vitol did not immediately reply to requests for comment from Reuters.

Malaysia's Pengerang peninsula sits strategically between the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea. Nearly all the Middle East oil and gas bound for North Asia's industrial powerhouses of China, Japan and South Korea passes through those two bodies of water.

Petronas LNG, a subsidiary of Petronas, and Vitol Asia signed a deal last year for long-term LNG supply from LNG Canada and from the global portfolio of Petronas, to start from 2024. - Reuters