Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) may add a power plant to its refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) complex in Pengerang, Johor.
“Rapid will require power. It will also require gas. It will require energy and electricity, so there will be power requirement,” Petronas executive vice-president (gas and power business) Datuk Anuar Ahmad told StarBiz after officiating the Petronas Leadership Centre, a learning arm of the group.
The Rapid project, costing about RM60bil, is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2016. It will have multinational oil and gas companies as joint-venture partners.
On Tuesday, StarBiz quoted sources as saying that Petronas would likely build a power plant to support the petrochemical industry in Pengerang.
According to sources, the national oil company planned to set up the plant on its own or through a joint venture.
On the shortage of gas, Anuar said it would likely to continue in the country for the time being.
“Hopefully, (it will be resolved) when we have the regassification terminal (ready) next August,” he said, adding that the volume would likely to continue to fluctuate as maintenance and services were still ongoing.
“There will always be maintenance. Gas supply level will fluctuate as maintenance takes place,” he said.
According to analysts, the new regassification project in Malacca, which is scheduled for commercialisation in mid-2012, is a long-term solution to address Malaysia's gas supply needs.
Separately, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has complained about the gas shortage as its earnings have been severely impacted. It has so far reported two consecutive quarters of losses.
TNB has said the losses stemmed from the need to replace the shortfall in the supply of gas by utilising more oil and distillates, which are five times more expensive than gas. This has resulted in TNB incurring an additional RM2.1bil in costs.
