Malaysia Petrochemical Plant and Outlook to Change

With the upcoming release of IPO from Malaysia's biggest petrochemical player in the country, Petronas, the horizon of Malaysian's petrochemical industry is set to change.

Currently, petchem industries in Malaysia has its joint ventures with multinational companies, normally the technology providers such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Kaneka, BASF, Dow Chemicals, ConocoPhilips and others.

The petchem scenario is considered medium matured with investments of RM28 billion in the sector producing 39 types of petrochemical products such as olefins, polyolefins, aromatics, ethylene oxides, glycols, oxo-alcohols, exthoxylates, acrylic acids, pthalic anhydride, acetic acid, styrene monomer, polystyrene ethylbenzene, vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride. World scale petrochemical plants producing LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, PP, EPS, GPPS, HIPS, PVC, ABS, SAN and PET resins have spurred the plastic industry in the country.

There are three petrochemical zones in Malaysia which are Kerteh, Gebeng and Tanjung Langsat.
With Petronas consolidating most of its petrochemical plants in Kerteh, and some in Gebeng and other areas, it is expected that the level of playing field will be raised with increase in efficiencies and cost cutting measures. This will in turn, give better profits to its shareholders which will be opened to public soon.

Malaysia’s petrochemical sector has also contributed to the development of local downstream plastic processing activities.