China firm to resume construction of oil terminal at Asia Petroleum Hub in Tanjung Pelepas

China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) has been awarded a contract worth US$400mil (RM1.8bil) for the construction of the oil terminal of the just-revived Asia Petroleum Hub (APH).

Smart Crest Sdn Bhd, which has an oil terminal at Westport, signed a framework agreement to award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) to CREC.

At the signing ceremony, Smart Crest’s chief executive officer Datuk Lim Kian Boon said the contract is worth US$400mil and Fajarbaru Builder Sdn Bhd will be the local joint venture partner in-charge of civil works.

“We have not defined the percentage of the joint venture yet, because the project is already 60% completed when I took over, so we are not sure how much local content is left,” Lim said.

Mega deal loss spells joy for UMW Oil & Gas

After abandoning a deal to create one of the largest oil and gas services providers in Malaysia, UMW Oil & Gas Corp. expects to return to profit next year with the return of full utilization of its drilling rigs.
   
Company President Rohaizad Darus said contracts have jumped, with rig utilisation climbing to 71 percent from 20 percent in the fourth quarter as oil firms operating in Southeast Asia resume spending on exploration and production.

Activity by state-controlled companies, including Petroliam Nasional Bhd., Indonesia’s Pertamina Persero PT and Thailand’s PTT Pcl is increasing, based on tender invitations the firms have received, he said.

“We are currently bidding for 35 tenders totaling 3.4 billion ringgit” ($783.1 million), Rohaizad said in a May 9 interview at the company’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters. “We hardly hit 20” at the same point last year.

KNM bags RM159m EPCC job in Thailand

KNM Group Bhd has bagged a RM159 million contract to undertake engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) works for the 300,000-litre per day Impress ethanol plant — expansion (IEL Phase 2) project in Chachaengsao Province, Thailand.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, KNM said its wholly-owned subsidiary KNM Process Systems Sdn Bhd (KNMPS) and its 74%-owned subsidiary KNM Projects (Thailand) Co Ltd (KNMPT) have collectively secured the contract from Thailand's Impress Ethanol Co Ltd (IEL). IEL is a manufacturer and distributor of alcohol/ethanol or fuel from agricultural products and it is effectively a 72%-owned subsidiary of KNM.

The construction duration of the IEL Phase 2 project is about 18 months.

KNMPS previously built the IEL Phase 1 project, involving 200,000 litres per day of fuel-grade ethanol production plant for IEL.

Untung suku pertama sebelum cukai Gas Malaysia naik 13.9%

Gas Malaysia Bhd mencatatkan keuntungan sebelum zakat dan cukai sebanyak RM45.2 juta pada suku pertama berakhir 31 Mac,  2017,  naik 13.9 peratus berbanding RM39.7 juta dalam tempoh sama tahun lepas.

Dalam makluman kepada Bursa Malaysia, katanya peningkatan itu disebabkan keuntungan kasar yang lebih tinggi sejajar dengan peningkatan jumlah gas yang dijual dan perbelanjaan pentadbiran yang rendah.

Perolehan kumpulan turut meningkat sebanyak 23.5 peratus kepada RM1,187.0 juta berbanding RM961.3 juta dalam tempoh sama pada 2016,  disebabkan jumlah gas yang dijual lebih tinggi dan semakan untuk menaikkan tarif gas asli.

Mengenai masa depan, Gas Malaysia menjangka peningkatan tahunan jumlah jualan gas dan bilangan pelanggan kekal bagi tahun kewangan 2017.

Petronas selects offshore contractor for Pan Malaysia contract

Petronas has invited a select group of offshore contractors to bid for a 2018 season of transportation and installation work.

The workscope up for grabs is understood to be linked to the Shell-E6 development, plus Petronas Carigali’s Anjung project.

It is the next installment of the Pan Malaysia transportation and installation programme for 2017 and 2018.

Sapura Energy's subsidiary TL Offshore landed a Pan Malaysia contract earlier this year from Petronas for the transport and install of platform structures and pipelines and associated works for a duration of one year covering 2017.

In the past, Petronas has awarded multi-year Pan Malaysia contracts, but this time has taken a different approach whereby a panel of contractors has been selected to bid for each scope that comes up.

The panel is understood to consist of TL Offshore, Barakah Offshore Petroleum subsidiary PBJV, Hilong Marine with Brooke Dockyard, McDermott and Alam Maritim.

Malaysia pengeksport LNG ketiga terbesar dunia

Malaysia merupakan peng­­eksport gas asli cecair (LNG) ketiga terbesar dunia selepas Qatar dan Australia, dan dijangka terus mengekalkan kedudukan tersebut berdasarkan kemajuan teknologi penghasilan LNG yang dimiliki oleh negara.

Menurut penyelidikan yang dilakukan oleh agensi penyelidik industri, Investvine, fasiliti Terapung LNG Petronas Satu (PFLNG Satu) yang dimiliki oleh Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) merupakan satu daripada faktor yang akan membolehkan Malaysia mengekalkan status sebagai antara pengeluar dan pengeksport LNG terbesar dunia.

Menurut agensi itu lagi, Jepun merupakan pasaran LNG terbesar Malaysia dengan menguasai 62 peratus eksport LNG negara, di­ikuti Korea Selatan (14 peratus), China (12 peratus) dan Taiwan (sembilan peratus).

Petronas and Saudi Aramco Explore Petrochemicals Expansion in Malaysia

Petronas and its partner Saudi Aramco are studying projects to build more petrochemical plants to make full use of raw materials from their joint venture in Malaysia.

Aramco signed a deal in late February to take a $7 billion investment, in the RAPID (Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development) joint venure with Petronas in Pengerang, southern Malaysia.

Projects being studied include speciality chemicals and synthetic rubber, company officials said at an industry conference on Monday.

"We're looking at what else we can do at RAPID," said Md Arif Mahmood, executive vice president and CEO of downstream operations at Petronas.

"There will be specialty (chemicals) using the C4s (technology)," he added, referring to petrochemicals produced from naphtha crackers.

Petronas: No FID Yet For Canada LNG

Petronas said it has yet to make a final investment decision (FID) with its Pacific NorthWest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project planned in northern British Columbia, Canada.

Petronas President/Chief Executive Officer Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said exploring options to make the proposed project competitive with other LNG producers in North America was currently the main target.

"We will announce the FID when the time is appropriate," he told a press conference held at the second day of the 19th Asia Oil and Gas Conference here Monday.

Wan Zulkiflee said Petronas' resources in Canada was very significant with its proven reserve of about 26 billion cubic feet (Bcf).

"We are determined to monetise the reserves at the right price and at the right time. "The project team is still exploring all options, including the technological aspects to develop the LNG plant that will be cost competitive compared with other producers in the North America," he said.

The state-owned company is currently the world's third largest LNG exporter (after Qatar and Australia).

TNB’s RM6bil Manjung 5 plant project on track for production

Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s second ultra-supercritical (USC) RM6bil coal-fired power plant, Manjung 5 (M5), is on track to meet its scheduled commercial operation date (SCOD) this coming October or 45 months from the project’s starting date.

The power plant in Manjung l, Perak, has achieved its Initial Operation Date (IOD) on May 2, 2017, where for the first time its generator was synchronised to the national grid, TNB said on Sunday.

The plant’s operator, TNB Manjung Five Sdn Bhd, is working closely with the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the plant - a consortium comprising Sumitomo Corp of Japan and Daelim Industrial Co Ltd of South Korea to ensure full commissioning of the plant.

After the IOD, the plant will undergo further tests to comply with the Malaysian Grid Codes.

Additionally, it will require further tuning works to achieve full capacity of generating 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

M5 will increase TNB’s coal-fired generation capacity to almost 5,000MW, representing about a quarter of Peninsular Malaysia’s installed capacity, it added.

Petronas says second floating LNG facility to be operational in 2020

Petroliam Nasional Bhd said its second floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility will be operational in 2020.

Petronas loaded its first cargo from the Petronas Floating LNG (PFLNG) 1 in east Malaysia last month, becoming the first company to produce LNG from a floating production unit.

The second one that is under construction, PFLNG 2, will enable liquefaction, production and offloading of natural gas in the Rotan field, 240 kilometers off the east Malaysian state of Sabah upon completion. It is set to have a processing capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).

Adnan Zainal Abidin, Petronas' acting vice president LNG assets, development and production, said development of the second facility was on track and that the company has received interest from other industry players for using both the facilities.