Environment & Energy | Thursday 29 March, 2018 9:00 am |

Saudi Aramco finalized a deal on Wednesday with Malaysian state energy company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) to invest in a refinery project off Malaysia.

The Saudi oil giant agreed in February last year to buy a $7 billion stake in Petronas’ Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project, but the issue was then delayed by “technical issues.”

RAPID is a $27 billion project located between the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea, a conduit for Middle East oil and gas bound for China, Japan and South Korea.

The two companies said in a statement that they signed the deal on Wednesday, but did not confirm the value of Aramco’s investment.

Saudi Aramco will supply
50 percent of the refinery’s crude oil with an option of increasing it to 70 percent, the statement said.

The development will contain a 300,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery and a petrochemical complex with a capacity of 7.7 million metric tons a year. Refinery operations are set to begin in 2019, with petrochemical operations to follow about 6-12 months afterward.