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Malaysia's national oil company Petronas's plans to develop a US$20 billion integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in the southern state of Johor will be done with partnerships. It will comprise a 300,000 barrels/day crude oil refinery, a naphtha cracker with capacity for 3 million tonnes of ethylene, propylene, C4 and C5 olefins and a joint petrochemical development with a combined capacity of 3 million tonnes/year.

Petronas President and CEO Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas has also been reported to have said that more than 80% of the products would be new to the company's product development expertise and as such it would seek out high-end partners "who are already out of commodities and into the life sciences." He said these partners would be both technology and equity owners of the projects.

The project, known as Refinery and Petrochemicals Integrated Development (Rapid), is expected to propel the company from a basic commodities player to one in the speciality oil and gas industry, as part of the company's efforts to expand its downstream production.

The planned crude oil refining capacity is expected to be larger than the combined capacities of the company's refineries in Kertih and Gebeng in Pahang.

Rapid's location in Johor is to leverage on the large land acreage, strategic location near major international shipping lanes and ports and proximity to demand centres that will facilitate potential collaboration with global partners in logistics and product distribution.