Petronas to expand Malacca refinery

SINGAPORE: Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) planned to expand and upgrade its Malacca refinery to produce higher-quality fuel and meet rising demand after recently raising the plant’s capacity to 290,000 barrels per day (bpd), industry sources said.

Upgrades would allow Petronas to process more sour crude at the refining complex as the country’s sweet crude production declined, one of the sources said.

The study, which would determine the capacity and investment costs, was expected to be completed in first-quarter next year, he said.

The expansion would be carried out at the refinery’s Train 1, which has a design capacity of 100,000 bpd but operates at 120,000 bpd, the source said.

In the third quarter, Petronas started operations at a new 50,000-bpd hydrocracker which raised the overall refining capacity at Train 2 to 170,000 bpd, the source said.

Petronas owns 53% of the refinery while US oil company ConocoPhillips holds the remaining stake. — Reuters