Saudi Aramco will invest $7 billion11 May 2018 10:17
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia�s Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Monday that Saudi Arabia�s state oil company Saudi Aramco will invest $7 billion (5.6 billion pounds) into an oil refinery and petrochemical project in Malaysia�s southern state of Johor
The Aramco funding will help move RAPID to fruition and the desire of Saudi and Malaysian leaders to maintain close links between the countries likely helped cement a deal, said Subramanya Bettadapura, an oil and gas analyst with consultants Frost & Sullivan based in Kuala Lumpur.
�This investment confirmation would help bring the RAPID project to the commissioning stage,� said Subramanya. �It�s the goodwill of the Saudi king himself to invest and to maintain good ties with Malaysia, boost bilateral ties.�
The RAPID project, located at Pengerang in Johor, is expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2019. RAPID will contain a 300,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery and a petrochemical complex with a production capacity of 7.7 million metric tonnes. The complex will sit alongside an existing oil storage site at Pengerang.
Besides the Petronas-Saudi Aramco deal to be signed on Tuesday, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia signed four other agreements dealing with bilateral trade, human resources, scientific and educational cooperation and a news-sharing agreement between the state news wires of both countries.
Malaysia is the first stop in a rare month-long tour of Asia by the Saudis seeking to build ties and draw more investments to the oil-rich gulf nation.
Https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-petronas-aramco-idUKKBN1660Z7