Kuala Lumpur: The oil company Saudi Aramco will invest seven billion dollars in a refinery and petrochemical development project in Malaysia following a deal with Malaysia’s Petronas, media reports said on Tuesday.
The agreement reached by the two was announced on Monday by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak after his meeting with Saudi King Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is on a four-day visit to the country, Efe news reported.
“The discussions and negotiations have concluded and been finalised… Their (Saudi Aramco) investment probably makes them the single largest investor (in Malaysia),” Najib said at a press conference, according to the New Straits Times.
The two state-owned oil companies will sign a memorandum that, according to local media, would create a joint venture in the first quarter of 2017 for a refinery complex in Johor, southern Malaysia, which will start operations in 2019.
The $21 billion Rapid complex would have the capacity to produce 7.7 million tons per year of various grades of chemical products.
Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, is estimated to have crude reserves equivalent to 265 billion barrels, accounting for more than 15 per cent of the world’s deposits.
