First cargo received at Petronas Rapid project

Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) recorded another achievement in the development of its Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) with the arrival of three steam cracking modules at the material offloading facility port in Tanjung Setapa, Johor, on March 26.

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) material offloading facility (MOLF) at Tanjung Setapa - one of the two such dedicated facilities to serve the needs of the US$16bil Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project - has begun operations.

Petronas said in a statement that the MOLF, comprising two jetties with three berthing facilities to receive Super Heavy Lift Oversized (SHLO), Heavy Lift Oversized (HLO) and break bulk cargos, on Saturday received three steam cracking modules, part of the main structures for Rapid’s steam cracker complex (SCC).

The complex will be constructed by a consortium of Toyo Engineering Corp and Toyo Engineering & Construction Sdn Bhd. The modules, measuring 76 metres in length and 4.2 metres in diametre, have a combined weight of about 540 tonnes.

The arrival of the cargo, besides signalling the start of operations for the MOLF in Tanjung Setapa, marked another milestone in the overall progress of the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC), which is poised to achieve the first refinery start-up in 2019.  
 
A ceremony was held at the port to mark the cargo’s arrival, attended by Petronas senior vice-president and Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Corp Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Dr Colin Wong Hee Huing and Toyo Engineering Corp project manager of oration Takashi Iguchi. 
 
Apart from Tanjung Setapa, another MOLF port in Teluk Ramunia will be dedicated to serve the needs of the Rapid project. Together, these ports will handle an estimated 4 million tonnes of cargo over the next three years.

PIC is Petronas’ largest green-field downstream undertaking in Malaysia. Apart from Rapid, PIC involves the development of six associated facilities namely the Pengerang cogeneration plant, regasification terminal, air separation unit, raw water supply project, the Pengerang Deepwater Terminal 2 as well as centralised and shared utilities and facilities.