Saudi Aramco finalises refinery deal with Malaysia's Petronas

DUBAI, March 28 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramcofinalised a deal on Wednesday with Malaysian state energycompany Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) to invest in arefinery project off Malaysia.

Saudi oil giant Aramco agreed in February last year to buy a$7 billion stake in Petronas's PetrochemicalIntegrated Development (RAPID) project, but the issue was thendelayed by "technical issues".

RAPID is a $27 billion project located between the MalaccaStrait and the South China Sea, conduits for Middle East oil andgas bound for China, Japan and South Korea.

The two companies said in a statement that they signed thedeal on Wednesday but did not confirm the value of Aramco'sinvestment.

Saudi Aramco will supply 50 percent of the refinery's crudeoil with an option of increasing it to 70 percent, the statementsaid.

The development will contain a 300,000 barrel-per-day oilrefinery and a petrochemical complex with a capacity of 7.7million metric tonnes a year. Refinery operations are set tobegin in 2019, with petrochemical operations to follow 6-12months afterwards.

(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Susan Fenton)