Malaysia due grassroots refinery, storage terminal

State-owned Sabah Oil & Gas Development Corp. Sdn. Bhd. (SOGDC) has signed a heads of agreement (HOA) with Petroventure Energy Sdn. Bhd. (PESB) for construction of a proposed petroleum oil storage and refinery in Sipitang Oil & Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP) in the Malaysian state of Sabah, on the northern portion of Borneo.

As part of the HOA, signed on Dec. 13, SOGDC (formerly Sipitang Oil & Gas Development Corp. Sdn. Bhd.) and PESB will explore the possibility of building the oil storage and refinery, which would require a total investment of about $2.3 billion, SOGDC said in posts to its official Twitter and Facebook accounts.

If approved, the project, upon start-up, would generate about 3500 job opportunities for the region, SOGDC said.

While further details regarding the proposed storage and refining complex could not be officially confirmed, local media out of Sabah reported the refinery would have a nameplate crude processing capacity of about 70,300 b/d for production of gasoline and diesel. The storage terminal would have a capacity to house 2 million cu tonnes of oil.

The entire project would take about 3-5 years to complete, according to local media reports.