Report: Petronas, Aramco study synthetic rubber production

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia’s Petronas and Saudi Aramco are investigating projects to build more petrochemical plants in a bid to make use of the raw materials from their JV in Malaysia, according to Reuters.

The two companies signed a deal in February wherein Aramco will make a $7 billion (€6.4 billion) investment, in the RAPID (Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development) joint venture with Petronas in Pengerang, Malaysia.

According to Reuters, officials from both companies said in a conference on 8 May that they were looking to find out what else they could do at RAPID.

The report cited a senior Aramco official as saying that said the cracker could produce about 600,000 tonnes of butadiene. This, he added, could be used to produce either elastomers, or synthetic rubber.

In April 2016, Petronas announced the cancellation of a proposed elastomer project which was to have been part of the RAPID project - citing an unfavourable market outlook and a low projected return-on-investment.

Petronas had announced, late in 2015, that the initial total projected investment cost for the polymers, glycols and elastomers segments of RAPID, would be around €3.5 billion, with a combined capacity of 3,500 ktpa.

The cancellation of the elastomers project was expected to result in a capacity reduction of 350ktpa and projected investment cost by $1.3 billion, according to Petronas’ project cancellation announcement.

Back in 2012, ERJ reported that Petronas had signed an agreement with Versalis, to jointly own, develop, construct and operate elastomer plants within the RAPID complex.